Seekers and Finders
by Kerberos314
Summary: Sequel to Lost Innocent World. It would never replace what they had lost, but the world they find themselves in is getting smaller and less foreign by the day. Too bad the same isn't true of each other. Who they are now has replaced what they were, and nothing will ever be the same again. It's hard to belong when everything and everyone is still trying to kill you.
1. In the Meantime in Pernambuco

**Well, well, well... here we are again. For those of you left, anyway.**

 **For those just joining, I recommend going back to Part1 of this epic, trying that out. If you don't like my style of writing there, you sure as hell won't be able to handle this either. I make no apologies for my verbose style, I am not a professional writer and this is not something professional that will ever be published in a serious manner. This is practice much like what most people call 'real life'.**

 **It's taken me an admittedly long time to get back to this story. Lots of personal stuff I am not going to bother you with, but most of that has been smoothed out now. That doesn't mean that I am going to be devoting a great deal of time to this, though, so don't expect a ridged schedule of publication. Extra-life activities come first, followed by those necessities such as eating, bathing, etc. Way in third is school (as if I had time for that!). My auto-fornication of writing comes somewhere way at the bottom.**

 **That being said, my efficiency has been high lately and can be stimulated further by glowing (or glowering, your choice, but the latter might not help) reviews.**

 **Alright, nothing more to gripe about to pad this Author's note out any longer. So what are you waiting for? Get reading!**

 **I am only going to say this once: I do not own Naruto, RWBY, Gogol Bordello (or any derivative works) or any other references I knowingly or unknowingly bring up in this creative work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is because I hate you.**

* * *

The scrap of mahogany wood stuck up like a sail in the foggy morning dew. The rest of the ancient desk wouldn't be far beneath in the sea of homogenous grey rubble. With a simple flick of her wrist, it would whole once again, no sign that it had ever been separated.

If only the rest of their lives were so simple.

It had always been Glynda's responsibility to mend what was broken within the confines of that scholastic cloister. But that construct of order was gone, now, that bastion of regulation and comprehension finished. All learning from here on would be done out in the open, as raw and bare as her arms felt in the cool pre-dawn, all lessons as chill and uncomfortable as she was now standing there alone and exposed to the elements. Everything that much harder.

And the task now fell to her, alone. Others might try and step up to lend a hand where they could, but ultimately it was the responsibility that she had accepted long ago. Of course, she neither had envisioned nor envied the task ever truly falling to her, as much as she could never foresee a world in which her friend and mentor no longer resided. Nonetheless, she would have to shoulder the burden of mending not only the physical structure, but the shattered dreams and broken bonds which had been forged within. That would be the hard part, and could not be salved so easily.

Still, they were, most all of them, alive and able to do so. Which seemed a Pyric victory with the loss of their headmaster. The path ahead of them all still loomed daunting, a Sisyphean a task as any. Still, they had to start somewhere. And there was precious little more to fall when lying in the gutter.

With a twitch of the wrist like a snapping of a twig in the halcyon stillness, the storied piece of furniture was reassembled before her. Along with the plush emerald seating, it sat incongruously amongst the rubble, waiting to be filled. Waiting for her to fill it. Though infinitely more comfortable than her previous workspace, the smooth surface of the armrest, polished to the grain from constant use felt distinctly out of place to her touch.

She would have to get used to it.

Breathing deeply, she was ironically grateful that although she had reassembled the desk to its previous likeness, she had not managed to retrieve the idiosyncrasies that had plagued it. The chair no longer squeaked. The right-hand drawer no longer hung up when opened fully.

It no longer smelled like him.

That peculiar scent of coffee and musk that one normally associated with old books was no longer present, overpowered by the lingering chalky dust that filled the air, subdued only by the heavy shroud of mist. And so, perhaps his ghost would not linger so in her mind as she fortified herself behind it, steeled herself for taking up his mantle as her own.

It was wishful thinking.

The past was always there, no matter how hard one tried to erase it. Even the young man whose predicament most filled her mind with concern could not escape this fact. Even though he had lost a significant portion of his former life, he was not immune to its persuasion. Not with a living fossil of his memory hanging like a specter on the peripheries of his thoughts.

And here she was, exhuming a relic of her own past, unable to move on without a tangible place to start. Humans were such whimsical creatures that way. She could no more rely on the inanimate object under her calloused palms to guide her in this endeavor than she could count on the crumbled walls to keep the oncoming rain from soaking her.

And yet, where were they without their past? They would never be who they were now without it, and perhaps this was why the universe seemed so adamant about preventing their regression. Everything in it was built on top of what came before. The only way was forward. The only thing to do pick oneself up off the ground. And it was perhaps this simplification that made the situation doable. Even if the forces of the universe had conspired to try and erase their origins, she, as well as that confused young man were still fundamentally the same people, which gave her hope that they could both, that they could all, move on from this. They would have to.

Everyone was equal parts forged from their birth and honed by their environment to be who they were. For the moment they all would have to rely more heavily on the influence of the former. To trust their innate ability to make the correct choices to dig them out of the pit they now found themselves in.

Despite it all, Glynda found herself with faith that they could accomplish it, that they could successfully pick it all up and begin again.

* * *

He was trying hard not to crumble. To be fair, he was doing an admirable job at it, and the shell which showed on the outside bore no cracks nor hint of what turmoil lay underneath. Even from the inside looking out it was hard to be aware of anything anomalous. But there were indeed ripples and waves which reverberated in his mind and trusted memories. Resonances striking an off note which threatened to tear him apart were he not constantly alert.

It was easy to be complacent. Everything seemed so solid, so correct and well placed in his stratigraphic procession. All his memories existed like fine sediments suspended in a silty matrix, making up the layers of his life, one stacked on top of the other. But nowhere in there was this person who claimed so fundamental a role in his chemical makeup. How could he not remember someone who should be a cornerstone of his purpose and existence?

It was far easier, and far more rational to assume what was evidently true, that the person named "Sasuke Uchiha" had never once crossed paths with the one known as Naruto Uzumaki. The way in which he currently saw the world, Sasuke had no place in it. There was no room for the dark and recalcitrant teen in that framework which bore him up.

And yet…

Those uneasy tremors radiated from somewhere. They had a focus, buried and unknown, suggesting a hole never quite filled. Cracks which had never completely mended in whatever mental orogeny had cataclysmically shifted his mind after his epic battle, still floating on the surface of his conscious.

But even though he could not seem to identify all his components, track down all the factors that made Naruto Uzumaki who he was, he could in fact identify that person, as well as what he stood for. And he knew in that instance he would have to continue being the solid rock which shored the rest of his precious people above the oncoming flood.

Though those levies held, for now. And all was calm in the eye of the storm.

And like an obstinate pluton sitting propped upright in the same hospital bed he had been confined to for the past week, he did in fact find some measure of contentment. He let everything be drowned out from his mind and settled it on the dregs of thought. The borderline inane chatter in his room, soothing to an overtaxed psyche, like a steadying drone in an Indian Raga. A song which had been played thousands of times before in never quite the same way.

"…So then Yang brought up that epic food-fight we had, and while we were all laughing as Nora began reenacting it, she accidentally lobbed this wad of mash potatoes into the air. Of course, we were all laughing so hard we were doubled over, so it went right over us and landed square on Goodwitch!"

Naruto smiled softly as he listened to Ruby's account of their group's antics in his absence. He knew that any other time he too would be unable to contain his own mirth at the humorously reenacted story. He had laughed heartily at the others the young woman had regaled to him in the past week of his convalescence. Though this was by far the most entertaining, a somber mood prevailed despite the overarching joviality. It was impossible to banish from his mind, and impossible for any observer to ignore.

Ruby noticed- had noticed, for some time, actually. She had continued talking anyway, as she had for the past several days, hoping to elicit the behavior she had come to associate with her blond friend using whatever manner she could. But when she delivered the climactic twist to her tail and there was no volcanic eruption of laughter, she knew that it had been a futile effort.

Truthfully, she had also been hoping to test the limits of his memory, and with each new tale she recounted she tried to intertwine them with past incidents between them in the hope that her prodding might stir something loose, might help him remember his true long-time friend. Admittedly the two of them had not themselves known one another for long. But for her, every day since she entered Beacon academy had been like the first day of her own life, and she could not conceive of it without a place for each of her friends. This intangible rift which was slowly eschewing their individual paths was intolerable for her, and it was clear nothing would be the same until her blond friend could remember his brother in arms.

Clearly, it was grating on him as well. Although he hid it well behind that unflappable façade that he still impeccably maintained despite his obvious disquiet. It was without a doubt second nature to him now, though Ruby and the others knew he was preserving it strictly for their benefit. He had to rely an inordinate amount on them these days. It seemed so cruelly ironic, that they, being such new friends, now knew more about his fellow shinobi than the young man in front of her whom had spent the better part of his youth alongside said boy.

Though right now, despite that overarching problem, Ruby suspected that there was something else troubling her normally exuberant friend. And if his tranquil tone and lack of response to her antics was not enough of a tip off, the pointed fox ears which drooped on the top of his head were like a lighthouse on this foggy morning.

"That's a funny story, Ruby." He acknowledged automatically. She gave him a frown that was halfway to becoming a pout, and his smile grew imperceptibly.

"You're not even paying attention, are you?" She protested dejectedly, and even though he was still very much aloof, he was present enough to realize he had made a serious mistake in his tone and quickly jumped to correct the false assumption.

"No! No, I'm listening. Believe me, Ruby, I'm here."

"Then why didn't you laugh?" He struggled for a plausible answer for a few seconds, but knew that anything he said would be picked apart, so he instead chose to forward the conversation.

"So what did Goodwitch do?" He imbued his question with as much intrigue as he could muster.

This only served to deepen Ruby's frown, however, as she stared at her folded hands in her lap.

"Nothing." She admitted, finally. And this time the answer came as a genuine shock to the young man.

"Nothing?"

"Nothing." She confirmed. "She just froze, wiped away the mash potatoes, and then walked out." She gazed back up at her friend and he could see then the deep concern in her eyes. "She didn't yell at us or anything. She didn't even look at us. It was like we weren't even there."

 _Or she was somewhere else._ Naruto privately surmised, though Ruby seemed to come to the same conclusion when staring at his own vacant look. Too many people these days were spending too much time dwelling on the 'what ifs' in her opinion, and not enough time on the here and now.

Although, it wasn't like the here and now was not rife with its own distractions.

An uncomfortable silence settled on the two of them then. There wasn't even a breeze to rustle the heavy canvas tent, and all was weighed down by the heavy mist which surrounded them and penetrated their very words to make even speaking heavy and laborious.

"So…this is probably it then, huh?" Naruto's unusually croaky voice broke the silence at last, though it was no more welcome a sound than a sharp crack on a frozen lake.

And like anyone perched precariously on that uncertain terrain, neither was willing to make a move at first. As if any action whatsoever would break the spell of contentment they had donned. But with Naruto's most recent question, the possibility of return was already off the table. All that was left would be for one or the other to make the first move towards safe ground.

"Ow!"

Eye's fixated on his upturned palms, Naruto didn't see as Ruby's fist lashed out and rapped him solidly on the head, right in between his two most sensitive appendages.

"What was that for?" He groused, rubbing the spot where no bump would form. Even through whatever memory loss he had been subjected to, Naruto could remember being hit far harder than that. But never in any history real or imagined had it been Ruby who had administered the blow.

She blew him a raspberry which softened the scowls donning both their faces.

"Quit being so melodramatic." The girl chided, arching an eyebrow at the now cowed young man whose hand had shifted from nursing the imagined wound to rubbing the back of his head in chagrin. "It's hardly like we'll never see one another again. Everyone is just going back home for the summer, and we'll be back again in the fall."

"Everyone but me." His hand which dropped next to the other in his lap clenched the rough cotton sheets draped over his legs.

The aloof demeanor that she had adopted to placate the young man faltered somewhat as the crux of the matter was thrust into the open. She had already acknowledged to herself that she would miss all of the friends she had made during her academic year, and though she would be traveling back to Patch with Yang and Qrow by her side, the young man in front of her did not have such a luxury.

"It's not like you're going to be alone, though." She offered halfheartedly. "You'll be with Ms. Goodwitch, and I'm sure she'll be able to help you out." After, of course, she finished rebuilding the leveled remains of their school. But she was certain this could be accomplished in no time at all, especially if Naruto had managed to retain his clone technique. Although, they had not yet been able to test his abilities since his hospitalization and metamorphosis, and the subject was still yet another landmine which had to be skirted around, she was none the less confident of her statement and knew that the veteran huntress would bring him up to speed in no time.

Although, it could also easily go the other way, and Naruto might find himself starting over again from square one. Or, worse yet, unable to perform in any capacity as a huntsman, shinobi, or whatever it was he decided he wanted to work towards now. Although yet unspoken, it seemed that to him this was the most likely outcome, as his downtrodden features had yet to alleviate and the melancholy aura persisted.

The negativity which was ambient in the air was even starting to bring her down. But she couldn't allow it to. Wouldn't allow it to. Even though Naruto had come to embody the resilient spirit of their generation, she knew that he was unable to fulfill that particular role currently, and thus the mantel fell to her.

She wondered now, as she had only a handful of times before, would this have been the case had the two shinobi never entered their lives? Would she be the one propping up the rest of their grade and leading them undoubtedly towards victory in the face of insurmountable odds? Her conscious berated her for such an arrogant thought. But deep within her, a voice reminded her that she was capable of doing so, with or without the help of others.

Even still, she didn't want to have to. She wanted her support. Craved her attachments. She wanted to see them all smile together again.

"Sasuke will be here as well."

The boy flinched at the mention of the name he could only remember as a strange face staring wide-eyed and hopelessly at him as he failed to recognize his visage. In spite of the discomfort, however, his friend pushed on because she knew it was necessary.

"You'll get to know him again." She stated definitively, mimicking the same tone of conviction that had allowed her to watch him jump off a floating stadium. And to both their surprise he was forced to give her the entirety of his attention, as he stared at her like a dog in the Bosnian rain.

"You'll get to know him again. You will." She emphasized. "Even if right now you can't remember him, you will, eventually." She stumbled slightly, allowing some doubt to come across, but just as quickly leveled herself out by pushing forward. "O-or even if you don't remember him from before, you'll become friends again. You're still the same Naruto as before, trust me." She placed her slender hand over his only slightly larger one, for once relishing in the juxtaposition of her pale skin against his tan. It was yet another reminder that changes or no, he was still the same person.

And like any Naruto in any other universe might do, he perked up at the contact, relishing the feeling of another person so near. He couldn't help the small smile which wormed its way onto his still whiskered cheeks as he stared at the innocent union, almost as if it was happening to someone else.

"And you're in luck," Ruby began, giving his hand a little squeeze of assurance. "This Sasuke is **a lot** easier to get along with than he was before!"

Her smile broadened as this pried loose a bark of laughter from the young man who shook his head in disbelief.

"Man, if that broody guy was worse before, maybe I'm better off not remembering!"

Although it was meant in jest, as soon as he said the words he wished them back because the brief reprieve of joviality was broken, and when the hand which still rested on his gave another squeeze, it was more out of desperation than reassurance. More to keep him from falling off the cliff into despair.

"No. You're always better off knowing."

She could not help the memories of her own past which beckoned her from beneath the murky surface, encouraging her to drown herself in their viscous depths. Losing her mother had been hard, harder even than perhaps her blond friend could appreciate. The words if said aloud might have been cruel, but no less true. He had never lost anyone so precious before, and so would not know what kind of torturous experience it was. In a way, perhaps he could understand a bit better now. But she was still adamant in her assertion. She had lost her mother, and she had almost lost Naruto. But never would she have ever wished that their time together had been forgot.

Somehow the young man seemed able to grasp his mistake and the internal turmoil he had precipitated. Perhaps though the physical memory of his past was lost, the emotional memory still lingered somewhere in the reptilian brain, and reminded him of the other types of pain that were still foreign to his experience.

"Sorry Ruby. I didn't mean it." He shifted in his cot and reached out with his other arm to grasp the young woman's shoulder. Unconsciously his hand began gentle ministrations, trying to steer her away from dwelling on the negative thoughts which still loitered unwanted. She offered a reluctant smile but little else.

"I know you didn't." She assured him, but he still looked guilty that his sour mood had mired the two of them for so long. He shook his head, admonishing his own behavior.

"Yeah, but I'm still sorry. Here you are spending days on end talking to me, trying to cheer me up, and I've been nothing but a downer. That's not right, and that's not who Naruto Uzumaki is." By the end of his proclamation his subtle grin had sprouted teeth, and Ruby felt her own mood brighten by the sudden influx of energy.

"Hey, you know what?!" He proclaimed suddenly and threw back the covers, causing the crimson girl to jump in surprise as she found the previously bedridden young man upright by her side.

"Let's get out of this dreary place. I think being cooped up in here for so long has been really messing with my head." As she looked on in surprise at his manic outburst, she couldn't help but agree. Could not help but be swept up with the sudden power surge which electrified the whole tent space and sent tingles through her spine.

"You guys may not be able to stay here while the school is being rebuilt, but you're not leaving right away. Let's get the whole gang together and do something fun!"

"But wait, Naruto! Goodwitch said that you're not supposed to leave the hospital tent! I gave my word that I'd keep my eye on you!" The words spewed out of her mouth in rapid fire without pause for thought, else Ruby might have found herself in shock that **she** was trying to be the responsible one.

"You will be keeping your eye on me." Naruto winked at her and the ambient temperature in the tent rose perceptibly as she found herself swept up in his arms. Something which she didn't remember him being able to do before. But in her paralysis of everything but her sputtering mouth, she could not help being ushered along in his frenzy. Though this was indeed like the high-energy young man she had been trying to wean out for the past few days, she only now remembered the crucial detail that once released it was exceedingly difficult to corral this more lighthearted aspect of his personality.

"Wait! What are you going to do? If Goodwitch finds out your gone we'll get in trouble!" It might have seemed odd that after all they had just been through that the new headmistress would be such a prominent concern in her reasoning. They had only recently learned that there were things far more fearsome than the stern woman. But so it was, for Goodwitch was fearsome in her own right. And neither had she given them any reason to assume she had become any more lenient in the interim. Though this did not disturb her blond friend, either.

"Eh, from what you say, Goodwitch seems to have enough on her plate to keep her busy for a while. I'm sure she wouldn't mind if we stepped out and got some fresh air. Besides, if it comes down to it, you can just blame the whole thing on me. Come on, Ruby! Let's go find the others. If this is going to be our last day together I want to make the most of it!"

He whisked her out of the tent so fast that the whole canvas complex became a blur around her. Had she been in the right state of mind her semblance would have easily compensated for the sudden acceleration. But even though she was outwardly protesting the misadventure that was sure to come, the young girl with normal knees which lingered deep inside her was giddy with delight, and all too content to go along for the ride.

* * *

"G-good morning Glynda."

The greeting that he had prepared several great strides away from the woman's workspace had caught in his throat as soon as he announced his presence and threw back the heavy tent flap. It might have been the stalwart gaze she directed his way, eyes like x-rays seeing right through his core and probably doing him untold amounts of harm. Though it also could have just as easily been the iconic desk she had moved into her ersatz office and seated herself behind, the object being an uncomfortable totem of his late friend, and still a sore spot between the two of them.

But it was more than likely a combination of the above, an uncharacteristic wispy smile adorning the statuesque woman's face, so reminiscent of the desk's previous owner that it crossed his chilled mind that he was staring at a ghostly possession of his lost friend.

"Good morning, General."

Glynda, meanwhile was quietly celebrating her minor victory, relishing in the apparent effectiveness of her psychological tactic which had been but a mere afterthought upon her redecoration. She had to hand it to her former superior, in retrospect. All those times she had grated on his aloof and blasé attitude had been worth it to see its result from the other side. His former carriage being so diametrically opposed to her own disposition only seemed to enhance the change's effects, throwing even the unflappable Ironwood off his footing.

The military man meanwhile tacitly noted the formal rebuttal he had been issued. He had been under the impression that they were well beyond first-name basis by this point. To him, it indicated a hostility to his presence, or at the very least a more than healthy skepticism. Which, if he was being truthful with himself, was probably more than warranted given the recent happenings.

He coughed into his hand to clear his throat and to try and give himself a brief minute of reprieve from her disarmingly chill gaze.

"I just wanted to let you know that I have sent my request in to high command to have our forces stay through until the fall to provide support." He tactfully decided not to draw undue attention to the change in décor. Less for the sake of celerity of the conversation and more for his own mental soundness. It was hard enough to be in her presence alone, with her being such an avatar of his fallen friend. He was not sure what he would do if she started adopting his mannerisms.

Glynda hummed quietly, and Ironwood was glad to note that there did not seem to be any coffee cup on the tabletop. The thoughtful pause which would normally encompass an elongated sip was yet another idiosyncrasy he could live without.

"Ms. Schnee, along with the other students is going to be returning the day after next to her home in Atlas." She stated ponderously, almost as if musing to herself.

The General let out a breath he did not know he had been holding, grateful that he seemed to receive an implicit agreement on this previous point of contention. Thankful a heated argument did not seem forthcoming, he nodded shallowly without removing his own attention from the blond woman who still sat with arms steepled on the ebony-grained piece of furniture.

"Yes, Captain Schnee has also fully recovered from her injuries and will be accompanying her sister." He folded his hands behind his back as his stance fell at ease, no longer fearful of contention.

"Good. You will be accompanying them as well."

"What?" His knees locked and he blinked at the sudden yet easy shift in the conversation, like a fluid repost from an experienced fencer, the woman had thrown him a hook which lashed around his lowered guard to slap him in the face.

"And you'll be taking all of your forces with you."

Any austerity and professionalism that he had been holding back out of personal respect for the woman was banished from the tent at this proclamation, and Ironwood rallied his obstinacy as he prepared to once again duke out this continually rehashed point. His whole intention was to do this as a favor to the memory of his compatriot, and was both hurt and insulted that the woman continued to be so mulish. But the newly promoted headmistress likewise did not seem to want to go over the same moot point but was determined to have her desires conceded one way or another. And rather than give into the insanity of this exercise with the pigheaded man, she came prepared with a change of strategy.

"You will be going back to Atlas." She stated factually and evenly as she stood up, still placing the solid piece of furniture between her and the now highly irritated man. "The others have already left, and without the presence of aid workers your army is nothing but an occupying force."

"You sent back the aid from Mistral and Vacuo?" He gapingly questioned. Having not heard anything of the sort come to his attention was disturbing. It meant that there were still some serious issues within his chain of his command, or that the woman before him had gone through great pains to keep it a secret from him until just now. Either would be bad, but he could not fathom a reason for the latter. On the other hand, neither could he understand her motivations in the first place. "What were you thinking?"

Glynda took the chastisement in stride, never letting her character break. She was the picture of calm, unnerving with the placating smile and hands clasped nonchalantly behind her back.

"With the students heading home we have more than enough resources to get by." Three students and herself did not consume much, either energy or comestibles. And she herself was enough to head the reconstruction effort. Even working on her lonesome, it would not take her the whole summer to accomplish this. "The city of Vale is more than capable of providing for the school and whatever staff choose to remain."

"But what about safety? You can't take on everyone by yourself." He did not have to elaborate on 'everyone', though himself wondered if it included more than just Salem and her cohorts these days. He did not even want to mention the two shinobi that would in all likelihood reside there in the interim as well. As it stood, he was not sure if they counted as an asset or a detriment.

"We will be fine. Of that I can assure you."

Rather than take offense at his apparent lack of faith in her abilities, as her response might have been, Glynda merely held a hand out to quell any additional argument that might have been brewing as Ironwood duteously held his stifled comments at the disarmingly pacifying gesture.

"Beacon is no longer at risk." The hand that she used to shush him gestured to the flimsy wall that was all that existed between them and the continued presence of the ruin that was once the proud academy. "Vale is no longer at risk. The school is gone. The Fall maiden is gone. Ozpin is gone."

He felt himself wince at the mention of the name. It was unbecoming of a soldier to be effected so, but he couldn't help it. It was the first time between the two of them that the matter had been put so bluntly. Even when a statement had to be provided to the proper authorities, they had listed him as missing rather than the definitive. Which was as true as anything, because they had yet to sift through all the rubble to find a body. But to put him in the same breath as the others was to condemn him to the same fate, and it wasn't something he was quite prepared to hear that moment.

But Glynda had had time to come to terms with it, and she was confident that she understood her friend and colleague far better than the man in front of her. Rather than become upset as she had in previous iterations of this conversation, she resolved herself to reconcile the legitimacy of his position. That did not mean that she had to grant any concessions, however. And in fact, it only strengthened the necessity that she have her way.

"And I will be training Naruto and Sasuke."

"You can't be serious!" Without his noticing, the volume of his voice escalated and he quickly shushed himself, aware that there was but minimal dampening between the flimsy walls. "Those two are still more than likely their targets." He had resolved to trust their good intentions for the now, but still felt that their usefulness was minimal, and the benefit of keeping them around dubious.

"We don't even know if Uzumaki is still capable of another such feat." Add to that the fact that it was apparent he couldn't even seem to control the power that he may or may not still possess was just too many variables for the veteran soldier.

"No, no. It doesn't make sense." He shook his head as he confronted the woman who was slowly making her way to his side of the room, still not showing any signs of perturbance, and in fact not even looking directly at him. Rather her unfocussed gaze looked through him as if he wasn't even there, as if he was merely a piece of her conscience playing devil's advocate. Her mind had already been made up.

"I let Ozpin have his way before, and I retracted my forces." He struggled to meet her on an even playing field and use his friend's name as his own weapon, as he had no other authority here. "I'm not going to make that same mistake again. I'm not going to do something ineffectual. It just doesn't make sense. You're still going to be a target, and now you're just more vulnerable." He threw his arms up in exasperation, and to highlight the temporary structure around them.

"It was one of your ships that crashed into Amity Coliseum." She reminded him offhandedly, not seeming to want to incur any spite, yet he flinched none the less. "Some of your forces were here, and they still did not manage to prevent the attack." He had to admit that much, though he seethed quietly, more upset with his forces' own blunder than with having it used against him.

"You are right, though." He stopped glaring holes in his shoes and refocused his attention back on Glynda who had ended up on the right side of the room in the midst of her calm pacing, fiddling with some trinket on the edge of a coffee table which pushed taut against the fabric of the wall. She looked back at him over her shoulder.

"It doesn't make sense. Doing things half-heartedly is ineffectual." She stopped playing with whatever object had been her focus and turned back to him. "Right now it is Mistral, Vacuo and Atlas that will be in their sights. Not Vale." Not some downtrodden woman and two child soldiers who were as broken as the structure they were supposed to live in.

"Right now, your country needs you and your expertise. We were blindsided. Now we can be sure the attack is coming, and we can bet that we won't be expecting from where. **You** still have internal problems that you need to deal with, and deal with soon."

The man sighed and screwed his eyes shut in resignation. It was as grating as it was obvious that she was aware of his selective ignorance. He had done his best to patch the security holes in his command since Ozpin had informed him of the breech, but it was evident that the problem was far more endemic and harder to stamp out than he realized. He had been privately holding out hope that it had been Ozpin himself that had caused the hiccups, if only to prove a point to his old friend and sparring partner. But with his demise, it was clear this was not the case, and he had a far more serious problem that required his full focus of administration. He reluctantly acknowledged it with a somber nod.

With his attention focused elsewhere, he didn't notice as she crossed the room to the other side, to a mirrored coffee table adorned with its full complement. Silently Glynda poured some of the thick, readymade brew into a dainty porcelain cup which belched out a healthy plume of steam and filled the room with a woody and spiced aroma. Raising the cup decorated with arabesque blue flora intricacies to her lips, she let Ironwood bear the full brunt of her sly smile over the peaked rim.

"Don't worry about us, James. I think you will find us survivors to have a few tricks still left up our sleeves."

* * *

"I would think you of all people would know better than to disturb me when I'm trying to read."

She was fairly certain that she had put up all defensive postures prudent to securing herself a moment alone to her thoughts. Holed up in a dimly lit corner in the back of one of the storage tents, she evoked about as much approachability as a sea urchin. She had carefully avoided wandering into public settings for days now, scrounging rations from the plenty available in the tent so that she did not have to trapes into the mess and find herself on the opposite end of a heavy conversation.

"It is kind of hard not to when you spend **all** of your time reading." The interloper to her peaceful meditation drawled out, before amending his statement. "Or at least, pretending to."

The person who now approached her had patently ignored all the obvious signs and clearly sought her out in her hidey-hole. He had come straight in and made a beeline for her corner, minus twists and turns in the corridors made from stacked supply crates. She had no doubt that he already knew she was there, and probably had for some time.

She sighed and closed her book soundlessly before meeting the intruder's gaze for the first time since he had approached, her amber eyes glowing like bubbling magma in the dimly-lit space. Smoldering lumps of coal stared back, equally unflinching.

"What do you want, Sasuke?" Being one of the persons she least wanted to see right now did nothing to soften her tone. That was done consciously, and with great care, to not sound quite so irritated. It wasn't that she continued to hold a particular animosity toward the teen. She just didn't really want to converse with anyone right now.

"Is it so hard to believe that I just wanted to talk?"

She snorted, the loudest sound she had made in several days.

"Let's see, you actively seeking someone out because you **want** to? I think I should be worried, or at the very least, highly suspicious of your motivations."

He took the barb with a smirk, uncaring if the vitriol was real or feigned.

"Be either, both, if you want to. May I?"

Her response was at first limited to the silent and subtle glow that emanated from her bastion of darkness and solitude. After a beat, she sighed and stepped marginally into the scant light which emanated from the room's singular bulb strung in the center, and what little crept in from beneath the fabric walls. She gestured a careless wave to a crate within reach emblazoned with a faded red stencil reading: 'Water, Canned, Potable'.

Sasuke humbly accepted the offer and sat down within arm's reach of his fellow raven-haired student, the two staring parallel holes into the stack of crates that filled the center of the cavernous temporary building.

"So, what's up with the sudden personality shift?" Blake questioned, continuing on the same vein, still not entirely trusting the younger man to have come without ulterior motive.

"I could ask you the same." He quipped back nonchalantly. To her ire, if the narrowed slits opposite to him was any indication. Though she did not say anything to the contrary. She had indeed been more recalcitrant since the culminating battle several days prior, undoing what seemed to be months of acclimating to social norms.

In some ways, the impersonal youth next to her seemed to be doing better in this regard. Further proving this supposition to be true, he took the high road and answered her previous question without further ado.

"I thought at first I would get along better with people who were more like me. More reserved. More serious. Quieter, at least." He sighed, pulling his hand out of his pocket and scratching his cheek absently. "Turns out, it's a pretty miserable thing. Might as well be alone."

"And is it really such a bad thing to be alone?"

There was a spark of deep and serious contemplation which flashed across the young man's face, so clear to her despite the dimness, and so unusual to his own norm that she had no trouble reading him. There was a moment when he honestly weighed her question, though he doubtlessly had many times before. But it was only a moment, and then it was gone.

"Yes. Yes it is."

She thought deeply on his answer, and the pause which said perhaps more.

Did she pity him? He had told them all their story in fine detail and without shame. It was a disclosure meant so that they might understand their motivations, make the two otherworldly teens seem more down to earth and comprehensible. Howeve,r it only served to highlight their differences, showing how much the two endured in their short existence made the both of them seem all the more heroic, their tragedies all the more sorrowful, and their fights all the more bloodthirsty.

And now once again they had to endure through a divine intervention set to tear them apart. It was assured that Naruto would never go the path alone. Such was his grace of character. But what of the one seated next to her? Had he endeared himself to their group as much as he would have liked to suppose, or was he riding on the wake of his gregarious friend who no longer remembered him?

No, she decided. She did not pity him. She had thought herself alone for so long too. Alone in her struggles for equality. Alone in her choice to take the higher road when violence was clearly not the answer. And alone again because of that decision. She was wrong in that thinking, though. She was never alone until now. Deprived of love, and now, deprived of hate, she had nothing. No one to empathize with how empty she now felt.

No, she decided. She did not pity him.

Nor did she envy him. They all had their own, unequal struggles. But did that mean they had to go them alone? Just because one struggled, did one have to be miserable to feel justified?

"I hated my brother." His voice was low as he looked at his own palms, callouses etched through countless hours of dedicated training, all for the sole purpose of avenging said kin. She knew this. He had told them of his desire to kill his only living family. She did not think it bared repeating.

"And, in some ways, I loved him."

She was surprised, eyes widening marginally in silent show of it, though she did not know why she should be so. She should have expected it. How could he not help but love someone so integral to his life? It had never occurred to her before, mainly because it wasn't conveyed in his tale. Not directly, at least. But now in so intimate a setting, she could see how much truth there was in that simple contradiction. Love and hate were the same face in different light.

"And I'll never get the chance to see him again." His hands clenched, knuckles turning all the paler and fingernails dug into his meaty palm. "I'll never be able to kill him. Never be able to avenge my family. Never find out why!" His voice rose to a smothered yell, thunder way off over the horizon. Bloody rain dribbled from his palms.

But the storm just hovered there on the horizon, before it dissipated, allowing the scattered light from the moon shine once again on the rolling hills. Blake watched him in silent awe, as one would watch a real-life torment of nature which she had only narrowly escaped, static electricity still tingling on her skin.

His hate was something impressive. Palpable like that charge before a lightning strike or the smell before a heavy rain. Only more intense. Deadlier. Stifling. But what she found all the more impressive was his restraint of this powerful emotion. The way he overcame his nature.

His hands unclenched and he watched the rivulets of blood dry up and damn the shallow creases in his palm. He looked over to see Blake had scooted away from him intuitively, staring at him wide-eyed like a startled cat. Her own fingernails had dug their own trenches in their wooded bench. He straightened slowly, trying not to startle her. He couldn't if he had tried, she was so caught up in her own musings.

"I'm sorry." He apologized, turning away abashedly.

"Don't be." His words had stirred her from her own conflict. Who was she not to indulge him in his brief lapse of control? She dared not even face her own feelings on the matter. That was why she had holed herself up in the loneliest corner of the whole encampment, burying herself in the texts which she had read over and over again. The most dog-eared tomes and wrinkled paper-backs keeping her company, making sure that she did not have to think and so she could lose herself in fantasy.

"You're strong." Her voice was barely above a whisper, but he heard her, and understood the quality of strength she was talking about. "Stronger than I am." Now it was she who could not meet his gaze.

"It takes time. I've been at it a lot longer. And there are times…" He did not need to elaborate, she had witnessed just such a time firsthand. If she had been in her right mind, she might have been concerned about attracting Grimm. But they had made themselves scarce ever since Naruto had unleashed his own potent hate. That, or there simply weren't any left after the abject destruction he had wrought.

"I'm still working at it." He chuckled half-heartedly. "Probably will be for some time."

Their conversation had gone on for some time as well. The light from underneath the paper-thin gaps in the walls had turned crimson, and even Blake was having a hard time reading the expression on her companion's face. But what was not said in the scant words traded between them was said in the pregnant pauses between the hands of the clock.

"I imagine…." He was startled, not by the words which pierced the darkness, but by the warm hand which lay gently on his shoulder. "…It's easier having someone to help."

He felt himself flinch under the touch, so foreign to his senses. But not his sensibility, for he found he did not want to break the contact just yet.

"Yeah…" But he stood up anyway, letting her hand slide off back to her side. "It was."

He had made both grand strides and teeth-gritting crawls to inch his way into normalcy. Against him though was time, years of soloing his arduous climb. Naruto had managed to drill his way into Sasuke's appreciation, but now that the bond, his safe handhold, was ripped from his grasp. He was no longer sure that he could begin ag-

"Ow!"

He rubbed his head from where the spine of the book had rapped him. More out of shock than anything else, the well-loved text nonetheless left its mark, with little more damage to its worried spine than the rising welt on the back of his skull.

He turned and shot a glare at the twin slivers of harvest moon, laughing at him in the darkness. Had the woman been prone to toothy grins like his former cohort, he could imagine a Cheshire grin also hanging disconnected in the space beneath.

"Don't be so melodramatic." He heard her sing-song voice whisper out to him. "You're never alone."

"Tch."

His scoff held no scorn, and he was sure that even now she could see the heartened smirk on his lips as he turned around and shoved his hands in his pockets, glad that as a ninja he could find his way even in the abject darkness. He had memorized the labyrinthine path on the way in so there wouldn't be any surprises-

"Hi!"

Beginning as a stumble, his left foot fell into a defensive stance as his right palmed a kunai. Prudence luckily shone through even in the absence of light, and he stayed his hand, kenning to the familiar voice.

"Nora?"

He could only just make out the familiar grin hovering about eye-level in the darkness, the ginger hair almost blue against the black background.

"What are you-"

"Tag."

He felt her finger grace the tip of his nose accompanied by a sudden vortex of wind sweeping away from him, drawing her faint call behind along with a cacophony of overturned supply crates.

"You're it!"

He cringed at the volume of her call, somehow even louder than the dozens of stacked towers tumbling down throughout the near sightless room, blocking any exit he had potentially memorized and making him reluctantly cough as the dust settled in the enclosed space.

"Damn." He swore softly to himself as he came to terms with the totality of his situation. He would need some help if he didn't want to find his way out by brail. But he knew of someone who could navigate the foreign darkness.

"Blake? Can you give me a hand?"

But there was no response. He blindly groped back where he had left the other woman but turned up nothing but splintered wood. She had taken her book along with her in her.

"She's gone, isn't she?" He asked, to no one in particular. But despite not knowing when she left him all alone in the storage tent, despite not knowing how long it would take him to disengage himself from said tent, despite not knowing how or why the bubbly girl chose that particular moment to make him part of her inane games, he did know one thing.

Whatever it was, it was probably Naruto's fault.

"Troublesome."


	2. Samiao's Day

**Yay! We are back! and so soon!**

 **Don't count on this to be a regular occurrence. I've elaborated to some of you on this, but just to reiterate, I will try to keep plugging away at this when I can, but other things will take precedence (not much, mind you).**

 **Anyway, to the reviews that didn't get personal response, Re to All: You're welcome.**

 **And really, it is thanks to you I have most of my will to do this.**

 **That being said, you might want to bear with me on this chapter if it is not to your liking. I have reasons for the things I do, even if it doesn't seem like it some times (I have to have faith in myself that I have a plan stored away in my spacious noggin some times). But rest assured this time I do.**

 **Everything will be illuminated. Some day you will understand all of it, when you get a lot of them.**

* * *

Her vision rocked back and forth slowly as if she were on a ship in the middle of the ocean. Was she? It was so dark she couldn't tell. Couldn't tell up from down, either, vertigo ruled in that teetering existence between consciousness and slumber, the throbbing of her head like the ticking of a clock the only thing keeping time moving forward in that twilight.

But still, it was something. Something to prove her continued life.

Apart from the pain, that is. She could feel it, looming beyond the numbness and disorientation like so many sharks swimming just underneath that oscillating surface which was slowly but surely coming into focus. It was still so dark, so cold. But now, she could begin to distinguish one from the other. Leg from foot from ground from grass. None of it her own.

Did she have any feet left to support her dead weight of a body? She struggled but couldn't suss them in the purple haze which barred her from everything but her core. Her heart, still pulsing strongly. And the fiery blood which still coursed through her veins, strong as ever. Stronger even. Despite the cold of night, somewhere where her breath fogged and sparkled in the starlight, she was a nucleus of warmth. So hot she felt like her vital fluid should etch its way through her veins and spill out onto the dusty ground. But her veins held. She held. And she could not even figure out how.

Tens, hundreds, thousands of tons of rock and steel. A mountain's worth had crashed down upon her. She had seen it, saw it claim the man in front of her, his orange hair only making him look more like a tomato when he was splattered between the solid slab of wall and the tiled ground. The wall's brethren had gotten her, too. She knew it as surely as she knew anything else. So why, how was she alive?

The knowledge that she was trudging dutifully forward only added to the mystery. Certainly, it was not by her own volition, but for the life of her she could not identify one person in her pitiful existence that would bother to recover her flattened corpse. As much as she hated to admit it, even her mistress would have left her to rot. Not that she blamed her, mind. After all, what possible use could she serve now? Even if she was alive, she was most assuredly a cripple. Remnant could revive even those without legs, but that wouldn't help someone with a spine like table salt.

The ground stopped its conveyor belt, she stopped swaying and immediately felt nauseous. Her mind continued forward and she tumbled into a dizzy spell, a galaxy worth of stars clouding her fuzzy vision. Silently she felt herself lowered to the ground. Her feet hit first and limp legs crumpled after. Good. They were still there. She couldn't control them, but it was nice to know. And her back protested as she was propped up against a hillock, despite the soft grass which tickled her raw skin. It too was there, and though it felt like she had endured a flogging which left her bare to the bone, said bones were all there. Each one accounted for itself, screaming out in pain for her undivided attention.

It was a mercifully small favor.

But she had someone else to thank, of that she was sure. But she couldn't even move her head to look upon her savior. Her neck was so weak she dared not crane it down. She settled for gazing up at the night sky, which wasn't so bad. In fact, she couldn't recall ever having seen a more pristine portrait of the world's dusk. The false and tawdry stars that had swum in her vision fled in light of the real deal, and despite her carefulness to curtail any excess movement, she gasped in the presence of their beauty.

She must have alerted her benefactor that she was awake, for she felt small and delicate hands grope the sides of her head, and suddenly her pinprick quilt of ethereal light was eclipsed by a dark visage. This was alright, too. For as soon as her eyes had adjusted to the scant light which bathed the grassy knoll she recognized the pale and silent face. Felt tears of joy trickle down her own dirtied cheeks and blur the coy but earnest smile which greeted her.

Neo…

Now she knew why no words had been spoken since her awakening, not that she was much conversation herself, anyway. Still, it must have been quite a feat for the petit girl to lug her limp body away from the ruin which was Beacon academy to… wherever they were now. Hopefully far enough away that no one would come looking for them. But she trusted her comrade enough to not overly worry about such things. For now, she let the relief wash the trepidation from her like she wished she could the chalky dust which still clung to her tanned and excoriated skin.

The innocuous smile which betrayed nothing of the dire circumstances they had just fled suddenly ducked out of her sight, and she felt herself call out to her mute compatriot. Only to descend into a coughing fit which wracked her entire body and sent waves of pain rippling from the tips of her still-attached toes to the matted hair on her head. Gods! Such pain. She felt bile begin to rise from her empty stomach before a wooden edge was pressed against her lips. She drank greedily from the cool spring water, relishing in the icy feeling which plastered her parched throat and worked its way down into her enflamed core.

Neo retracted the bowl as she saw the effect the snow-melt had when it reached the empty stomach. A renewed wave of pain sent her would-be patient spasming in paraplegic protest. She frowned and did her best to restrain the larger woman in her spasms. But the most that she seemed able to do was to provide comfort as they purged the autonomic response out of her system. She waited until they had become calm before trying again with the remainder of the water that was still left in the bowl. All the while administering a disapproving stare which kept the other woman from gulping down the fluid again.

The water seemed to do some good overall, however, for after a while she felt some semblance of strength return to her. Enough at least that she could choose where to look. She saw her young companion bustle about their would-be campsite, using whatever scant resources she had procured during their flight and whatever could be found in the immediate area to try and make the two of them more comfortable.

This included a blanket, probably scrounged from the razed academy if the threadbare and dusty appearance was anything to go by. It had been draped over her shoulders without her knowing, and she was surprised to note she could not feel much difference.

She appreciated the effort, but she probably didn't need it. The cold didn't seem to affect her as much as it should have. Despite the fact that they were in a place cold enough to support the jagged and snow-glazed peaks which surrounded them, frosted over even in the beginning of summer, she felt no chill even as she watched the dichromatic girl shiver slightly while attempting to light the scant lumber she had gathered.

She frowned, watching the other woman struggle with the task all alone, getting nowhere despite her best efforts. It was clear to her even from a distance away that it was a futile effort. The wood was much too fresh, too wet to be lit with the meager flint which the younger woman scraped desperately against her blade. There was nothing to be done without chemical fuel or flame dust, which was doubtlessly not among the supplies they had with them.

It was frustrating as it was heartbreaking to watch her comrade (Subordinate? Friend?) try so desperately to rescue the two of them. It only burned her all the more with the silent knowledge that she would be fine either way. The icy chill which wove in and out of their sheltered slope licked the two's hair and prickled their skin. Upon contact with her, however, the excited atoms danced and careened off her exposed flesh, only to be swept up again in the relentless tempest like embers in the night.

Oh how she wished she wasn't so injured, so damned useless. She thought she was a survivor, but she was just a virus. A pestilence thriving on the organism that was society. Just like all the others. She was no less a target for Grimm, and for greed.

And in the true end of times, was she to die out like the rest? All for want of a stupid flame? For lack of experience? For all her boasting and confidence, she was reliant once again on someone else to pick her off the ground. And as she watched that someone else struggle and stumble in front of her, she could only feel interminable rage. Rage unlike she had felt before. Rage at herself. Rage at the world. Rage at those that did this to her.

"Crack."

It started with a sound which was like the snapping of a twig, and before long that one branch where the spark had erupted caught the other two columns of fuel and oxygen, and an honest-to-goodness fire erected itself a temple on that lonely hill. Neo fell back on her rear, startled at her sudden success, and her invalid companion let out a sigh of relief at their sudden windfall.

Brushing the freshly deposited grass off her already ruined dress, Neo glanced over to see the ample pile of wood she had accrued. Once satisfied that she would not have to go out again for the rest of the remaining evening, she made her way over to her comrade. She crouched down in front of her to avoid the now howling wind, and reached behind her back to produce two granola bars that she had tucked into the fold of her tattered dress. She offered her friend a chagrinned smile, apologizing in her own way for not being able to offer more.

Despite herself and the dire situation they were in, she wanted to laugh at the girl's meager concern. Here she was, living on the breast of her kindness. She had no right, nor desire to complain. They had much grander problems to worry about than a half-empty stomach, which would be half-solved as soon as she ate the food offered to her.

That is, if only she could raise her arm to accept the largesse. She made to reach out for the proffered item, instinct driving her action for lack of motor skills which were still coming online in her half-booted brain. She stopped when she realized that Neo had offered the bar in her own left hand, and was frowning deeply that her gift was being ignored. At least, that is what it looked like to her.

But she was frustrated with the younger woman herself. Neo should have known by now that she was left-handed, and yet she kept the lone source of nutrition in the most opposite hand, so far out…of…her….

Oh.

She then realized why she had been having so much trouble regaining control of her dominant hand. Probably because her arm was detached, and abandoned many miles hence they came. In its place was mangled stump, from the elbow up looking like it had been wrung out to dry and put away damp. Flaps of her dark skin hung limp and rusty dried blood coated her bronze arm. She could not see the full extent of her wound, but she knew enough. Now that she was paying attention, a sickly-sweet smell lingered about her despite the heavy breeze wicking it away. And it wasn't just due to the trail bar still being held her way.

None of these observations boded well for her.

It seemed that despite Neo's levelheadedness in her escape plan, she had neglected to properly address her patient's wound before setting off. Not that she could hold it against the girl, she had done enough already to get the two of them out of their quagmire. But now, certainly, it was of the utmost importance, even more than food, despite how vehemently her stomach protested. Staring at the missing appendage, she doubted she could hold anything down now, anyway.

She met her comrade's gaze, overwhelmed white eyes staring back at her blankly, unsure of what to do. But they couldn't afford to hesitate, not now. She glanced over to where the girl had set the bowl, silently asking for it. She was given it with what remained of the water, which she held shakily but with a great deal of determination. She wasn't about to be killed by something as pathetic as an infection.

Cleaning off the dirt and crust of blood as best she could, she tried once again to see past her elbow and assess what she could in the encroaching darkness.

She gave up rather quickly, settling instead to probe the rent flesh with her other hand. As soon as she touched the wound she nearly passed out again. The blissful numbness having taken flight when confronted with the snarling jaws of pain with each prod from her finger. But she was determined to prove herself a fighter, no matter what the context. So she gritted her teeth and bore what was to come with as much quiet dignity as she could muster.

She rinsed the wound again with water from the bowl recently refilled by Neo, grateful for the near freezing liquid which should numb the wound. Oddly enough, though, it seemed to steam when confronted with her exposed flesh and blood, vapor matching her hiss. But then the bleeding started up again, clotted arteries washed clean bled anew, and she knew that she had to affect a more permanent solution.

But there were no bandages to be found. Nor anything they could use a tourniquet: the clothes they wore were barely enough to keep themselves covered as was. But they did have a fire, and they had steel.

"Neo, give me your sword."

She hesitated for a second, but only just that as she hopped to the command. The slim blade was dipped into the now healthy fire and left until it gained an overall even glow.

Then came the fun part.

She plucked it from where it rested by its curved wooden handle, trying to ignore the heat which would bleed through and tried to scald her. Which strangely didn't happen. She knew instinctively that despite the insolation, the wood would be too hot to touch. **Was** too hot to touch. And yet, she had no trouble managing it. But it was a worry for another time.

She brought the heated blade, faded to an iridescent sheen when removed from the flame, close to her open wound. Not giving herself a second to prepare or second guess herself, she cut quickly into her bicep, trying to carve a clean surface that might one day accept a prosthetic. All the while Neo watched in silent fascination as her weapon-turned surgery tool steamed as it sawed through mottled flesh.

The scream pierced through the night, but died on the howl of the wind.

She felt her vision go black, her cutting arm go slack as she lost momentum. She should have asked for help, should have gotten the weapon's owner to do it for her. But something within her wanted to prove her resilience, her capability. Something screamed at her that she was stronger than she knew she was, and that she was capable of overcoming even this. She had to. She was wrong.

"Neo!"

The young woman was already by her side helping to dig the slender blade out of her arm from where it lodged in the bone. It came unstuck easily and the bicolored girl stumbled back. The new wound bled from fresh, clean cuts in her arm.

It was no good, the girl's blade was just too thin. It didn't have enough weight to hack through the calcified bone, nor serrations to saw through. She knew this from the beginning, but denied herself the ability to lack hope. At least now her death would be assured. Swifter, at least, than a long, drawn out fight with sepsis.

But still so long. So interminably long.

Long enough for her to contemplate the entirety of her life. Long enough for her to look back on all the poor choices she had made, all the things that she had never been able to accomplish. Her victories, few and far between. Her failures. Too many to count. Her regrets…

Part of her was satisfied, though. Some strange, twisted part. She took abnormal pleasure in the accomplishment of her, and her mistress's mission. Beacon was dead and gone, Ozpin with it. Still, she would have liked to know if those other two had lived. She did not know if she would be happy or sad if they proved to be alive. It was all so confusing.

And then there was Neo staring at her with a loss, a blank mask etched on her pale face, bloodied sword clutched in her white-knuckled grip. At least she was there. She was a comfort. She would survive.

And Emerald would not have to die alone.

No.

No? No what? No, that she wouldn't die? No, that Neo would live? No, what know now? The word was hers, but from whence was a mystery. It was her wishes, her musing, her thoughts, but jammed in from a parallel angle to the normal flow.

No.

Indeed. If life were a yes or no question, the answer was always no. Never. Rip up the test, stab the pencil into the examiner's throat. Refuse to answer. In the absence of an answer, a solution always loomed. Never possible to confirm a negative.

Where were all of these thoughts coming from? Sure, she was pissed about dying, but the anger which boiled deep inside her gut was but a candle in comparison to what invaded her from beyond. A fire from the fourth dimension consumed her from past to present, burning Emerald Sustri to a crisp and razing what she was, whatever she was to become, to the ground, to her base.

And from that pile of ashes, something else was born.

No.

She shot up stock straight, causing Neo to flinch back half a pace to the flame.

No.

She flexed her right arm, suddenly not so foreign and awkward, almost as if she was born to preferring it. Her clenched fist sprung open as if shocked, and her taught, open palm was coated in napalm.

No.

She slammed the white-hot nova into her bloody stump and held on for dear life. There was pain for only a split second before all of the nerves were burnt away. It might destroy her chances of getting a prosthetic, but in that moment she found she didn't care. This power, so intertwined with anger and passion that it seemed to inflame her very psyche wouldn't let her. It wouldn't accept a weakling in its symbiosis, and whatever of that there was left in Emerald was burnt away.

No.

Then she heard it. An eerie laugh like autumn leaves underfoot broke through the night. It overcame the sizzling of flesh as the fire which charred the remained of her arm died out. It powered through the disturbingly enticing smell of cooked meat. It cut through the bones of the mute swordswoman who could only stand and watch her only living friend mutilate herself with an unknown technique, only to laugh it off like a madwoman.

Perhaps she was. But

No. She was not mad. She was not dead. She was not weak.

She was powerful. She was alive.

And she would never be alone again.

* * *

"Again."

The wooden swords cracked gently as they came together. Both their faces were scrunched in concentration and effort. Never had either one worked so hard for what seemed so little.

It had been so little time, only a couple of days since the other students had departed to their native lands, to be reunited with anxious family. But for them each day felt like an eternity, alone with only the other to validate the passage of time. One and one. Working from dawn till dusk, putting one brick on top of another both literally and figuratively as they trained their bodies and their minds, rebuilding the school in the process.

They each struggled to reign in control. Not to accelerate in their little game, though central to the purpose, was actually harder than to go all out. They stood across from each other, footwork limited to a gentle waltz which gave no leeway to breath. The two faux-weapons danced arm in arm, never parting, but pivoting and circulating in a complicated handshake where one small opening would still break a finger. The trick was to not leave oneself exposed while coaxing an opening in the movement of the other. It was truly a dynamic chess game. Naruto hated chess.

Goodbyes to their friends had been too quick, but they would have been no matter what. Better to tear the bandage off in one go. Bid their friends farewell for now and hope for the next time they would see them, whenever that was. Nothing was certain anymore, for either of them. And even though the two younger well-wishers shared the same friends and the same parting words, it wasn't hard to notice the strain also carved in even pieces between the two.

What would their old friends back home think of them now? Were they a tree sharing the same roots, or two roots feeding the same tree? Would they think of them at all?

"Ouch! Damn it!"

Naruto dropped the practice sword with a clatter on the fine tiled floor of the combat class's arena. He clutched his prominent ear, which for all feeling of belonging, seemed to encumber his natural movement. And in this case, it moved itself right in the way of Sasuke's wooden weapon. Or at least, that's the way it felt to Naruto.

To be fair, the clever feint and flick issued by the raven-haired boy would have hurt either way. But it was worth noting that Naruto had in fact tried to evade the blow, and might have done so if not for his extended appendage. To Glynda's calculated eyes, and to a lesser extent Sasuke's, it was just another indicator of the blond's imperfect transformation, his discomfort in his own body.

To Naruto, it was another sign that he was right to be skeptical of his sparring partner.

"You did that on purpose, you ass!"

Sasuke narrowed his gaze, and resisted the urge to growl and outright deny this ludicrous claim. It would not earn him any points earning the other boy's trust, and would in any case fall on deaf ears, no pun intended. Naruto was still forced to believe had always been a Faunus and that he had never known Sasuke in any other previous existence. This claim fit so cohesively with the rest of the history as he understood it and was so fervently defined, the two observers might have almost been convinced of its veracity.

Except that Sasuke did in fact exist. And he would do whatever it took to make Naruto remember, or at least acknowledge that fact.

"Naruto," Glynda stepped up quickly to impede the coming argument. "It is not Sasuke's fault if you failed to anticipate his movement." She admonished him sternly, but was careful not to drift into contempt. It was of the utmost importance that they tread carefully with their words. Not out of deference to his feelings, but because they knew he was already mentally of-balance by his newly implanted memories and didn't need him thinking of them as enemies in his twisted truth.

She bent down and offered a hand to the young man who continued to sit on the ground and pout while Sasuke simply watched with conflicted thoughts running amok. The behavior was so characteristic of his teammate that it was disarming, making him actively forget that the two of them were not the same pair they had been.

Naruto accepted the hand, but continued to grumble about the underhandedness of attacking him there. Once he was on his feet again though, Glynda gave him a light rap in between his perked-up ears.

"Now, now, quit your complaining. I bet that you would be more careful to guard something that sensitive if it was **another** part of your anatomy, hmm?"

Unable to form a reasonable defense for his case, or simply unable to muster thought with the atomic blush decorating his face, he simply settled for rubbing the new bump added to his cranium while averting his eyes abashedly.

"Naruto."

Sasuke finally spoke up, making the blond seem to remember his presence. He shot him a dirty look, which the other teen neglected to respond to. Instead, Sasuke entered into a stance that Naruto should have found familiar. Part of his reasoning was to check, and make sure. He shifted his weapon to an underhand grip before cupping that hand with the other, shifting their total to the side of his body.

Naruto and Glynda stared blankly at the salute, ignorant of its meaning. But even though he was ignorant, Naruto seemed to comprehend what the other young man was trying to say, in the way that infant gibberish might ring familiar.

It was the closest thing to an apology that the other teen could issue him. Even in this short time that he had 'known' him, he knew it was not in his nature to apologize, at least not vocally. And for Sasuke it was indeed the most appropriate action. He couldn't pander to his friend, no matter how much he felt responsible for all that had happened. It would not help restore their friendship by basing it on such extenuating circumstances. Nor would it benefit Naruto himself to have an ineffectual opponent, sorry for his own competence.

Naruto and Sasuke had always pushed against one another. Measured themselves by how far the other was progressing and in doing so pushed past boundaries that they didn't know to exist.

This was his way of apologizing, of saying sorry. The gesture stating more clearly than words that he intended no harm, that he respected the other boy as an equal opponent. Whether this new Naruto knew it or not, it was the first time he had ever admitted as much outside of his own thoughts.

Naruto nodded in solemn appreciation. Whether or not he understood the totality of what was passed between them was another matter. He picked up his neglected weapon and held it aloft and in front. Sasuke reciprocated, and the two blades crossed harmlessly.

Glynda quietly backed away, letting out a silent sigh at the expert diffusion of the potential situation. Every day, though it had only been two in their training regime thus far, had been a constant struggle. At first it had been merely a healthy skepticism held by the blond around the other youth. But paradoxically, the more time they spent together, the more they interacted and seemed to fall into their same patterns, the more the mutual distrust bred like a cornstalk between them. And it wasn't long before Naruto's quasi-paranoia drifted Glynda's way. She was the one in charge after all, and the sole person, now, vouching for Sasuke's legitimacy.

The whole thing was…. Troublesome.

"Alright." She sighed, reading the determined fire which lay behind their weary expressions, coaxed out by the setting afternoon sun.

"Again."

* * *

"Not this again!"

Jaune bemoaned loudly, letting his shoulders droop and his spirits crawl along the ground.

"Mr. Arc," Goodwitch tried to restrain her normal tone of severity in favor of an aloof levity the same brand used by the former headmaster of Beacon. What came out was a frightening combination of mirth and harshness which border on maniacal. Whoops. "I hardly think you are in any position to complain."

Against his better judgment he opened his mouth to issue a none-too appropriate rebuttal. Thankfully, Pavlovian instincts honed by a lifetime of living with deadly members of the opposite gender clamped it shut again before he said something he regretted. If possible, his posture slumped further so that his drooping head almost touched the floor.

"Yes Ma'am."

He shuffled over to his usual beast of burden: a sturdy wheelbarrow which had been one of the few things to survive the destruction of Beacon unscathed. And for good reason. The thing probably weighed about as much as the stack of stones which it carried, unconsolidated and unsorted rubble which needed to be removed and sorted before it could be repurposed and reassembled by an expert mason (or in their case, the highly handy headmistress). Or at least, that was what she told him.

She could have probably just rebuilt everything in situ, brick by brick, building by building. But she was admittedly a little bit annoyed with the male Arc, sneaking away from his designated transport and hiding out amongst the ruins of the school so that he could stay behind and reap the benefit of one-on-one training with the new headmistress of Beacon Academy II (Patent Pending). Of course, who was she to deny such an eager student? It did not however, mean that he would receive this exclusive tutelage for free.

Besides, it was obvious the gangly young man was in desperate need of bulking up. And practical methods were, in her opinion, the most efficient. She would get to teaching him, eventually, and at her own pace. But for now, she had her hands full with two other problem children. And those were issues she had volunteered to handle.

She hoped it was worth it.

"Alright then…"

She began, turning back to the two former shinobi who anxiously awaited her new instruction, much to her own nervousness. She had tried to stall this inevitable confrontation for as long as she could. And again, the delaying tactics she had used had indeed served a purpose. The sword exercises were legitimate ones, and imbued the two with a crucial skill that despite their honed techniques and prowess, they were sorely lacking.

While nowhere near masters, or even much above proficient, they had at least learned the building blocks from which they could refine their own individual weapon styles. But before they could continue with any more serious escalation in training, which would have involved actual weighted weapons, they had to ascertain exactly what extent Naruto's physiology had been altered by his species transformation.

Did he now have an Aura? Did he no longer have access to chakra and ninja techniques? Did he have a semblance? Did he have the Nine-Tailed Fox still well locked away in his gut? The answers to each of these questions would determine how he would, and could be trained. If her assumptions were correct, and he had become more integrated into their universe then she might actually have an easier time instilling her own regime on the young man. If not…well there wasn't a whole lot that she could bequeath to him other than generalities which would mean little without practical experience.

And then there was the other matter. At least she knew that she couldn't do much to help Sasuke as he currently was. She had the basics of sword play under her belt, but he would soon need a dedicated tutor in this discipline. He might still benefit from fighting his admitted equal, but before she would feel confident enough to pit them against one another again, she had to know the extent of their abilities. It wouldn't do for one of her students to be hospitalized again so soon after he recovered.

She sighed and stared at her feet while her hands wrung behind her back, still trying to figure out how best to accomplish this without creating more awkward or confusing situations. Fat chance of that.

"Um, Ms. Goodwitch?" Naruto's ear's twitched as he raised his hand, a non-verbal tick that they were becoming used to slowly but surely. The two of them were even beginning to admit privately that this version of Naruto actually made some kind of twisted sense in a universe trying to find a new balance point.

"Hm?" She raised her head to the young man eagerly awaiting her attention.

"Aren't we going to practice our Semblances today?"

Emerald and onyx eyes blinked in surprise at the frank curiosity of the question. There was no question of his having one. There was no sign of facetiousness or confusion in those innocent azure pools, just genuine curiosity which set the both of them off-guard at how easily the issue was averted.

"Right, yes." Glynda straightened and coughed into her hand, averting her gaze so that neither teen saw her chagrin. "Well, Naruto, since you seem so eager, why don't you go first?"

"Alright!"

Whatever sluggishness the boy had been showing was quickly evaporated into the rapidly warming day. The sun was just beginning to creep over the now completed walls of the former classroom, and made itself an ample spotlight in the center of the room. Naruto was all too eager to bound over to the farthest edge, and glance impatiently at the newly installed monitor (one of the few things Glynda could not restore).

Sasuke would have followed along at his own pace to the spot opposite the over enthusiastic blond, but held himself in the darkness behind their instructor when he replayed her words in his head. She met his cocked eyebrow with a level gaze, nodding silently to the screens for explanation. Naruto's was already lit up in its vibrant display of neon colors, accurately depicting both his official image as well as his current Aura.

The other one was black, and if Sasuke stepped up, would remain so. The time it would take to catch the blond up to speed on that fact was time better spent for them learning of his recent changes. And besides, without an accurate measure of his aura (of which it was non-existent) Sasuke would be in danger of possibly getting injured. And while this was a given fact for the experienced young man, Goodwitch had never been shy about her opinion on the matter, and now had ultimate say.

And given that they truly didn't know what to expect from the newly minted fox-Faunus, it was better to be safe than sorry. They needed someone who could react to the unexpected.

Glynda stepped forward into the limelight and into Naruto's surprised expression. The screen opposite his own went live, depicting, for the first time that either of them could remember, a quantification of the headmistress's skills.

"Whoa…."

Sasuke could hear his friend's subdued exclamation from the other side of the coliseum. He was more satisfied than surprised with the computer's results, and still took it all with a grain of salt. It was good to know that their instructor had the power to back up the skill and experience she claimed to have. But it was the latter that would define any match of any true challenge and worth. The only question was whether it would be enough to best the also impressively endowed young man and his penchant for surprises.

At least, it was a question for said blond, who was busy weighing his chances against his imposing instructor. For Sasuke and for Glynda herself, it was only a matter of how long it would take for him to be taken down a peg.

But the discrepancy between their skills and their respective strengths did not bother Naruto in the least. This wasn't a test where one got a pass or fail. This wasn't a life or death match. This was to be pure, old-fashioned fun for an adrenaline junky bordering on masochist.

"Alright, Naruto…" She adjusted her glasses carefully and with the palm of her hand, the other resting languidly by her side. "…show me what you have."

The glint off the lenses was the spark that set off the match, with Naruto exploding out of the gate like a bat out of hell on a direct heading towards the motionless Glynda. The only movement on her part was the slight frown on her face at seeing such a headstrong and foolish approach from someone who should know better, amnesia or not. It would not be good to end the match too quickly without having first tested the limits of his semblance, but at the current pace it was inevitable.

Thus she did not even reach for her riding crop holstered at her waist as her fellow blond came within striking distance. The fist dug a whooshing channel in nothing but air as the surprisingly lithe woman glided out of the way. Her long legs carried her with the most minute of movements, out of the way of each one of his successive strikes which did nothing more than ruffle her pressed uniform, and which stoked the ire of the younger man who tried even more desperately to make them land.

Until, that is, Glynda apparently grew tired of dancing with such a boorish partner. Turning her leg outward to intercept a low, sweeping kick, instead of distancing herself she stepped in, delivering a kick of her own which coiled in the space between the two fighters, and lashed out into Naruto's gut.

"Oof!"

Through the expression of exertion, Naruto gritted his teeth against the surprising strength of the blow, but pressed forward still, ignoring the pointed heel which dug into his flexed bicep blocking the majority of the kick from his torso. He ducked and shifted the limb out of the way with a pained grin, equally happy that she had broken the stalemate, and eager to take advantage of his smaller stature to get up close and personal.

He was less eager when despite the hairsbreadth between them, the towering woman caught him despite his parry, and nailed his crouched form to the ground with a vicious elbow to the back of his exposed head.

Naruto ricocheted into the unyielding floor as Glynda quickly backtracked out of his reach. In an ordinary fight, she would have pressed her advantage until her opponent was nothing more than a bloody pulp. But this was a spar, and a test. And because it was a test, she normally would have chastised the young man about his aggression and forethought, but refrained because she wanted to see how far she could push him.

She wasn't surprised when he all but leapt back to his feet (albeit with more than a little wobble). She was also vindicated when she saw that her otherwise debilitating blow had only nudged the young man's aura bar slightly. The questions that remained were how Naruto would respond to this clear outclassing, and how long it would take before he resorted to using his semblance.

The young man in question shook off the dizziness like a dog shaking off water. His nonplussed blinks transformed in to a feral grin, made all the more disquieting by the protruding canines and pointed ears which swept back and out of the way. Glynda pursed in turn, hoping that she had succeeded in making him frustrated, but instead unleashed his more competitive nature. There was no telling how much the Faunus DNA would affect this aspect of his personality.

Once again, however, he charged the noncommittal stance of the headmistress, who none the less flexed certain muscles in preparation. When he got within range, which was all but a split second at his still incredible speed, they fell back into a pure hand-to-hand bout. This time the older woman was more aggressive, offering plenty more opportunities for Naruto to show what he may or may not have remembered from his taijutsu training.

Although characteristically rough and unvarnished, as they exchanged blows and rebuttals at a furious pace, a pattern unlike she had observed before started to develop in the young man. Hooks flew in generous arks, but were less ungainly and more like meteors taking advantage of gravity. Punches were short and brutishly efficient, like the snapping of a tensioned rope. The entirety of his movement was like watching a mongoose harry a cobra. The only caveat being that he was still going to lose.

"Thwack!"

In the stands Sasuke flinched at the audible strike which rang like a bell throughout the chamber. He saw his blond companion sail through the air past Glynda's outstretched leg which seemed to have merely kissed the young man's chin. But he shot like a dart across the room, landing in an uncoordinated tumble from which he partially recovered in a three-point stance.

His breath came in pants as he stared at the seamless tile floor, trying to figure out up from down. He pushed himself up with his left hand just in time to see Glynda and two hallucinatory duplicates simultaneously whip out their riding crop and flick it purposefully in his direction. He threw himself into a barrel roll just in time to clear a blade of telekinesis which more than tickled the tip of his nose. Even before he touched back down on the ground he knew the warm up was over.

The sole observer in the room also had to enact a hasty maneuver as the invisible snow-plow blade ripped through the place he had been standing and dashed against the wall. Sasuke frowned as he stood back up from his crouch and dusted off his clothes, looked over his shoulder to see the welt the freshly repaired wall had acquired. It was interesting for him to note that it was not nearly as powerful as a technique effected with chakra.

But that didn't make it harmless. Had the stands been reintroduced to the room, there would be a good number of them destined for the wood chipper, and himself with more than a new haircut. But in his old world, this was nothing special. In any world however, it was a strange sight to see Glynda so carelessly tossing around potentially dangerous techniques like that.

Not to mention undoing her own hard labor.

This is what she did though, and continued to do as the tempo of the spar picked up to a healthy allegro. With Naruto seemingly content to dodge for the time being, she was equally satisfied to pick at his darting form with a lackadaisical fervor, never so much as grazing his gambols but equally giving him no room to advance. And while the sounds of battle escalated to full blown concert in that semi-enclosed space, it was still very clear that the combatants had yet to get serious.

It wasn't like Glynda wanted to be so flagrant nor so destructive. It was a calculated risk, one that she was not sure if Sasuke would have been capable of making. She wanted to test Naruto, true, but she also didn't want to be caught unawares herself. So she deluged the area with a shotgun of low-level techniques, relying on the net of intangible force to blanket whatever equally destructive tricks her most unexpected student might-would pull forth to his defense.

While her arm swished back and forth and her eyes tracked her target across the width and breadth of the room, her mind was focused on what the young man himself was doing, or had yet to do. She kept guessing, second guessing, and then resining herself back to square one. Surely his semblance would involve clones, they were his favorite and an invaluable technique. But maybe that was just her imagining the best, or maybe worst-case scenario. If that was true, why hadn't he used them yet? The old Naruto would have spammed and army of them by now, surely.

But if it wasn't clones, then what was it? Naruto had always been a prankster, and beyond the veneer that people saw when they first met him, a damn good keeper of secrets when he wanted to be. This part of his nature was coming to the surface during their fight. He was doing an admirable job evading her efforts without revealing anything himself. She was frustrated that her most stubborn student seemed to be choosing that time to listen to her advisement of not relying solely on one's semblance.

Thus like last time, it appeared it was up to her to take the lead in the dance they were having. She was hesitant to cause any more damage to her homeroom so recently revived, but it appeared there was little choice. An extra flourish, a deeper concentration of Aura, and a dash of dramatic pause. Naruto was once again thrown into the air as the floor opened up underneath him, the carefully laid tiles were blasted in a concentric circle around his feet, and he himself was sent tumbling in the midst of his stride.

Though he righted himself with some quick aerial acrobatics, he was left all but helpless as the tiles gathered themselves into dense cloud, and like a school of piranhas swam at him in a frenzy. He was caught in a technique startlingly reminiscent of a ninjutsu technique perfected by the Third Hokage, but did not see the irony either because he could not remember it, or because his mind was filled with little else but panic, and the uttermost need to survive.

"Okay then, here we go."

The words came oddly calm from his mouth, even if his heart was racing, pounding in his ears over the roar of wind from the square projectiles rapidly spinning towards him. The two sounds were two different strokes of the clock in his mind as he gathered his Aura for the first time in weeks, for the first time ever. The warm and familiar feeling rushed through his body and every molecule of his body jittered in excitement. Everything was buzzing, everything was blending, the hands of two different clocks catching up to one another.

He took a deep breath just as the lithic buzz saws reached him, the breath took him. He was the breath.

"What in the world…"

Sasuke was not sure if he actually said the words, or was just listening to Glynda watching the same thing. For the briefest of moments he wished that he had activated his Sharingan for this bout. But he dared not. Not after last time.

He could already feel it atrophying, day by day, ever since he used it to diffuse Emerald's illusion. The pain was as constant as a thorn in his side. Mostly he could ignore it when it came to the day to day. But if he were to use it… There was no guarantee that the next time would not be the last.

There was nothing to say that it would even work for this purpose. That is what he told himself at least, to preserve his pride, if not his body.

But Naruto didn't know of his ailment, and didn't seem to be suffering because of it. The projectiles which should have shredded his revenant corpse instead passed harmlessly through him like a well-timed illusion. But it was no clone technique, nor illusion as the tiles which cut through the falling body were displaced in their flight by its non-existent mass. And the blond Faunus just laughed in childish glee.

"Hell yeah!"

The excited shout was diffuse, but no quieter than if it had come directly from his mouth. And he still wasn't falling, nor moving other than the experimental flexing of his see-through limbs.

There was no other sign of any other blond popping out of the darkened corners, what few there were with the sun now high overhead. There was just him with his indominable smile, ecstatic as if he wasn't even sure what his technique did or was supposed to do. But if things held up the way they had been going, he was just probably relieved it worked when he wanted it to.

The cacophony of crashes of the floor tiles hitting the ground was the start of the second movement to the rehearsal fight. Naruto's 'ghost' suddenly dropped back to the ground where it once again solidified its form. The Faunus-Naruto touched down and for the third time shot off like a slingshot towards the still shocked headmistress. But she was not so surprised as to be caught off guard.

And Naruto was not quite as dense as to fall to the same tactic thrice.

Even as she whipped her semblance into overdrive, once again rearranging the floor plan of the room into something more appropriate to a torture chamber, the young man-turned cannonball was not deterred in his flight plan. Spikes coalesced from shards of floor tile and the makings of ceiling alike, all attempting to arrest the progress of the Faunus teen. But this was merely an obstacle course for the energetic young man as he bobbed and weaved closer to his goal.

She threw her hands up, seemingly in frustration but at the same time erecting a psychokinetic barrier a healthy distance between herself and the young man, broad enough that he would not be able to dodge around it without going a goodly distance out of his way. As expected though, he was not bothered by this impediment. Though in Glynda's mind, it was because he couldn't see the invisible technique. The reality was simply that he didn't care.

She watched it happen right in front of her, he from the wings, and neither vantages seemed to reveal anything about the near miraculous occurrence. Once again Naruto seemingly phased out of existence, became translucent and passed cleanly through the nigh-impenetrable barrier.

Shock and incredulity gave way to instinct as Glynda reeled back on her outstretched hands, like jerking back on twin kite-strings. The debris that had accumulated previous to this responded to her irresistible will and flew back at the two of them in a turbidity of shattered stone and dust, a tidal wave of flotsam which was preceded by a wave of displaced air.

But the poltergeist which Naruto had become was as undeterred by this as anything else when he was in that form. The twin breaks of the v-shaped wave passed him by, and even in the dusty haze Glynda could tell he was not swept up by it. She let the coalescing walls of detritus break on one another, and saw the ethereal form of the Faunus boy shoot out from the rising dust clouds, clearly trailing a vortex in his wake.

Glynda hurled another handful of slapdash attacks at the flying fox to no affect. He nimbly avoided each and every one. Or so it seemed.

She could see it as it was happening. Though he was apparently dodging her attacks by flying around them, impossible though it might have seemed for one could not even see them, the evasion seemed more out of prudence than anything else. Her attacks were all passing **through** him, as if he wasn't even really there. But the shit-eating grin and flagrant acrobatics said otherwise. Either way, she didn't have a lot of time to speculate before he reached her.

Reality seemed to bend towards him as he wound up for a highly telegraphed punch, one which she under any other circumstances wouldn't be afraid of. But for the first time in the fight, she was more worried about her own health than that of her student. In that same instance though, her mind working on the adrenaline of self-preservation latched on to what was going on.

It was perhaps obvious, but she would admonish herself later. She had run out of time. She reached back into a hidden pouch sewn into her skirt and withdrew a healthy pinch of fire-dust. Her eyes closed and she tuned everything else out, focusing on the Aura welling up inside of her. And not just any old Aura, she had to pluck the specific blend she needed, as well as the emotions which both fueled and funneled it. In the back of her mind she heard Naruto's whisper as his Semblance-fueled drew ever closer.

"I am the wind!"

The words themselves, being carried throughout the darkness, everything, made her believe it. She smirked.

"I know."

This time Sasuke was grateful he didn't have his Doujutsu active. Enhancing the fireball which encompassed not only his field of vision, but burst his eardrums would have left him blind as well as deaf. As it was he was blown back by the sudden expansion and consumption of oxygen, the remaining air only having one path of escape, luckily enough, through the not-yet completed roof.

Fortunately, unlike more powerful chakra or even straight Aura augmented techniques, the flames consumed all of the air in the area for only a fraction of a second, and then they were out. They were barely enough to scorch the tips of his hair, let alone singe his flesh.

He was able to stand back up in only a few seconds after the roar of flame had yielded to the whoosh of returning air. And through his still flash-blind vision he saw the inevitable aftermath.

Glynda stood steadfast in the center, blinking away dark spots and a little ash from her own eyes, and readjusting her glasses with the hand which did not hold her riding crop. A few hairs were loose from her normally iron-tight bun, and her pressed suit was ruffled and singed in more than a few places. She grimaced trying to dust off scuffs that were now part and parcel of the outfit.

Naruto…. Was not doing much. Smoldering, mostly.

But he was in one piece, and no longer ethereal. It was all darkness and stars even as he stared up at the clear blue sky in a daze. The clothes that he had been fighting in however, were not so lucky.

As levelheaded as if she hadn't just been the epicenter of an explosion which consumed all the oxygen in an arena sized space, Glynda merely sighed and motioned for Sasuke to come and help take care of his fellow student. He reciprocated the overburdened expression, but came anyway, removing the light jacket he had been wearing and draping it around the loopy young man to give him some modicum of decency.

"Well, that was interesting." The conscious young man drawled as he hefted the now completely unconscious blond onto his shoulder and turned to face their professor who stood appraising the two of them silently.

"Indeed." She stated simply, replacing her weapon back in its custom tooled leather holster.

"Did you really have to be so excessive, though?" The glower he received in reply was more than enough of an answer. "Never mind."

In truth, the answer might have been yes, but she had enacted the plan which came first to her mind, and there was no point second-guessing herself. It was only with the benefit of hindsight that she could now think of all the more appropriate (read: less destructive) countermeasures to the young man's Semblance.

These manifested in her mind almost as quickly as the potential advantages he now had. Prudence dictated she teach the young man as soon as he was awake. What he had was a powerful advantage, if used properly. But he was still reckless, unlike the judicious and sensible ninja he had revealed under Ozpin. It was little surprise if he had lost all memories of ever being a shinobi.

But still it was odd, because she could see the natural movements vying for dominance in their spar, working against an unfamiliar structure and perhaps ego. But they were there, and it would not be hard to coax them out again. And when she did, he would once again be a force to reckoned with.

She sighed again as she lead the two teens out of the classroom whose new paint smell had been replaced by a combination of charcoal and ozone. She would deal with the cleanup later.

"Uzumaki is certainly a one of kind, isn't he?" She asked rhetorically, receiving a half-hearted grunt in response. "I should have been more prepared for his potential." She admitted finally.

"It wasn't exactly that easy to predict." Sasuke conceded. "What exactly was it, by the way?"

She shot him an amused and questioning look, lauding his ignorance over him and stabbing at his long-held hubris. He huffed and focused forward, as humble as he would ever be.

"I must say, I've never seen anything like it." She gained a wistful look in her eyes as something passed within them, like a ripple in a field of green grass. "It suits him, though." She stopped, causing the other young man to pause as well, allowing the headmistress to reach over and brush an obstinate lock of blond hair away from her charge's face, grazing his whiskers with the tip of her manicured fingernail.

"To become wind, the very air itself." Sasuke almost shivered as he felt the reverence of her words, contemplated their implication. "To not be bound by the ground, or even Earth at all. The embodiment of a free spirit. Nigh untouchable."

"Hng." Sasuke grunted. "Nigh isn't close enough."

The sharpness in her eyes returned as her own fantasy was shattered. "No, it isn't." She turned on her heel and sped in front of him. "That's why we are going to need to train you two. Push you harder than you have ever been pushed before." Her words always carried such poignancy, even though he doubted she understood how hard that would be, he found himself believing her.

He watched her go in front of him a few paces before he followed. But his mind was still back on his once-still-friend propped on his arm.

It would be nice, poetic, if that was indeed the translation of Naruto's Semblance, the manifesting of his soul. He was in every life one could conceive, a free spirit. He deserved it too, after all he had been through. To be unconstrained by Earthly ties and mortal bounds.

But there was the other part of it. The transient nature it also seemed to symbolize. If he could shift his bodily structure on command, who was to say it would not happen outside of that? And furthermore, why could he not return to his previous state if he could so change form?

He did not have enough control over it, that was obvious, and could only hold the transformation for short bursts if what he observed in the fight was anything to go by. He was transparent. He was vulnerable. He was transitory, never solidly in the realm he seemed to occupy. Not quite human, never quite human.

Never normal, that was for sure.

Perhaps Sasuke was looking too far into it. But with everything that had been happening to the two of them, he just wanted to make sure it wasn't a sign that his friend was still skating the border between this universe… and whatever was beyond it.

He was selfish. Someday it might be him in danger of disappearing. And in that case, there was no one he would rather have by his side.


	3. Gypsy Autopilot

**Well, I hope you guys stuck with me, despite the wait. I could excuse myself by mentioning that I was totally out of contact for the past week, but the truth is this chapter was more or less done and I could have uploaded it before I left. Still, just reread this and corrected a few things, so there is that.  
**

 **I just wanted to dole out these chapters with enough of a buffer that I could still post one a week in case I got absolutely deluged with work. So far, still looks like that can be done.**

 **So for those that tried to contact me and didn't get a reply, sorry about that. I was dead at the time. I live, I die, I live again.**

 **WITNESS ME!**

 **But on a serious note: recently some people didn't get that rebirth option. I just want to take a little time, a few scant words that I feel need to be laid bare in light of this tragedy. I didn't know anyone personally who was killed in the Las Vegas attack, but it did happen within my state and my country so I cannot deny being affected.**

 **Whatever your political , personal, religious beliefs, please don't take this event as an opportunity to forward your agenda. Don't give in to hate and vindication which is too prevalent these days. I'm not going to defend my own personal belief on guns and I don't want to hear anyone else do so, no matter what side of the issue you are on.**

 **We all need to be respectful in the wake of this. The best way to honor the dead is not to deluge the airwaves with messages of hate.**

 **Last week I spent in the Mojave desert with a bunch of other nut-jobs portraying a post-apocalyptic world, and despite all appearances everyone there treated one another with respect, and dare I say it, love. And when I come back, I get the de rigeur of violence first thing. Before we start placing blame, let's take a step back, take a deep breath.**

 **If you have a need to take out your anger and frustrations, I give you a free pass to do it to me. Heap your resentment and negative words here, not on others in the real world or even on this site.**

 **But after that, learn to love again as I love each and every one of you out there. Yes, even you, you prick.**

 **For what it's worth, I hope that those directly affected by this find some solace in the fantasy they find here. For those jaded against events like this which have become a disturbing norm, I hope you read these words and spare a second thought on them.**

 **All the best my friends.**

* * *

Whispers like ripples of raindrops finally reached her. After such a long period of silence, they were like dinner bells to her information starved ears.

What a sumptuous meal this would be.

It was not what she had expected, nor indeed what she had so meticulously planned for. But it was ever so enticing. Such a paradigm being introduced into her world might have upset someone lesser, especially with some of her known assets going silent. But the potential benefit far outweighed the setback. If only she could pinpoint the source now.

It had become diffuse in the distance it took to travel to her. All those countless whispers of her children were static which obscured the truth and interfered with the crucial details. But still, the gross idea was more than enough to work with. More than enough place to start.

She was patient. She had waited a long time, and could wait a little bit more. Even so…

"How wonderful…"

She relished in the feeling which was conveyed in those far-off voices. The hatred transmitted and transmuted into a tangible feeling, almost erotic in its poignancy. It was the pain of a thousand lifetimes of strife, it was a war which continuously spanned a century. Solid enough to effect, enough to be affected.

A shiver forced its way up her spine and her pale hands wrung in pleasure. Crimson eyes ringed by black spider webs shot open. She continued to gaze out her window to the stormy scape so omnipresent in the glass that it might as well have been a painting. She dreamed of a rain of fire. So close now.

She silently called her obedient servants to her side. This would require a readjustment to her plans, and that meant a gathering of her acolytes. The sooner she could affect these changes the better. She wondered idly how many would show up. Who would she send to investigate this? Who would she have to watch for the fatal temptation might prove too great?

So many questions now. In an existence that had been all but certainty for all the time that mattered, having a landscape of unknown suddenly revealed to her was as exciting as it was fearful. But unlike her enemies, fear was her asset, her ally. Fear was her strength, and soon, she would become fear itself.

"Soon my dear, very soon indeed."

* * *

"Soon…soon, that's her answer for everything."

Jaune lamented mainly to himself as he sat on a stray stone that had yet to be used in the rebuilding, toying with the roast beef sandwich in his hands which despite his hunger was less than in his depressed state.

This didn't stop his other companions from chowing down on theirs, however, as they partially listened to his complaining with a sympathetic ear.

"When can I get a break? 'Soon, Jaune.' When can I start some real training? 'Soon, Jaune.' When is the building going to be done? 'You can see for yourself…'."

He sighed and took a half-hearted bite, chewing but not tasting his lunch.

"You know, if you don't want to, you don't have to eat it." Sasuke grumbled to himself, more annoyed with the older blond's lack of appreciation for his hard work. It had been his turn to make the food for the day, and he had been up an hour before his companions to make them all their afternoon's repast.

"Well I appreciate it, Sasuke." Naruto stated with his mouth full, unknowingly letting some stray crumbs fall to the ground where the returning pigeon population would appreciate them as well.

Despite the less than charming display, Sasuke nodded favorably to the shorter blond's statement. Their rapport could be said to have been improving in the recent weeks. Though the unidirectional distrust was still there, it was far hidden beneath the camaraderie brought about by mutual suffering.

Jaune really did not have an appreciation of just what he was missing out on. In his rose-tinted view from the outside he didn't see how hard they worked just to remain upright during these brief breaks in their regime. The two of them were not so picky nor hesitant to eat when food was presented to them.

"You guys are so lucky, though." He continued his one-sided lament. "I mean, I know it's hard work…" Both Naruto and Sasuke struggled to hold in a snort at this understatement. "…but the reward has to be worth it, right? I mean, you must be leagues stronger by now."

Though Naruto nodded enthusiastically, cheeks bulging with an overzealous bite, Sasuke kept himself to a reserved nod. He had to admit that the one on one training was certainly benefitting his blond friend. Both he and Glynda could easily see him progressing by leaps and bounds as the days went by. After a mere three days of refining his hand-to-hand technique, Naruto was already back up to sparring with Sasuke on even footing. And in a nearly identical stretch, the work they had put into his Semblance training had hammered out a myriad of potential techniques and more importantly, counters to its glaring weaknesses.

He couldn't say that having the woman as his semi-private tutor wasn't benefitting him as well. It was just harder to quantify. He had already reached a certain level in his potential, and now had seemed to plateau. Glynda herself admitted her failing ability to teach him anything new. Not that he could blame her for not having chakra, nor for the lack of a Sharingan. But that was going to be true for everyone he ran into in this world. In a way, Naruto's apparent deficiency was working out to his betterment in this respect.

Sasuke had little doubt that soon Jaune would get his wish, and even he would improve at a pace no one would have fathomed. Glynda would soon be forced to devote her focus to the two blonds as she ran out of things to teach him.

And speaking of the devil…

"I'm sure Naruto and Sasuke both consider themselves **incredibly** lucky." Jaune and Naruto both jumped as their headmistress came up silently behind them. Sasuke nodded shallowly in her direction, which she returned, lifting the wrapped sandwich in her hand in a show of thanks to the raven-haired young man. She found herself another rectangular stone to sit on, adjacent to their little group before carefully unwrapping the origami-like paper around her lunch.

"Absolutely!" Naruto exclaimed after carefully swallowing the current bite he had been chewing on. Etiquette had been hard earned in his case, but doled out mainly in the company of the older woman. When she wasn't present, he reverted to his more animalistic behaviors. "It's awesome having you all to ourselves Ms. Goodwitch!"

This precipitated a pause as the woman lifted her sandwich to her mouth, which formed a small smile, disappearing quickly when it returned to its previous action. As she delicately chewed her food she let the warm feeling that had been building within her for several weeks now creep up in her chest. While Naruto was still as easy to read as an open book, she wondered if he truly understood the impact they all had had on her life. She doubted Sasuke or Jaune would ever see themselves as belonging to the surrogate family she had assigned in her mind.

But with the four of them sitting there peacefully as they were now, not a concern in the world, she could pretend, couldn't she? Could she fathom a world where the two blonds and raven were actually her children?

"Anyway," She continued after swallowing and doffing her mouth daintily with a napkin. "I think it's just about time for you to join in the **fun** , Jaune." She finished with a sly smile in the blindsided boy's direction. Which caused him to nearly choke on the bite he had been lazily chewing. Naruto came to his rescue, heartily slapping the back of the gagging young man as he coughed out the inhaled chunks of bread and meat.

"Really?" Naruto turned to his teacher and asked in place of the older blond who was still struggling to catch his breath. Rather than try to speak with her mouth full, Glynda just nodded her reply.

Sasuke just held his tongue. Though he was glad that their third member had discharged his duties and made enough progress to join them, he knew that it also portended the limit to what training Glynda could probably provide him. Seeing the elation equally distributed among the bright faces of his comrades, he felt very much the adopted child in the pseudo family they had cobbled together.

"Oh, and that reminds me." Glynda started out of the blue, turning to the recalcitrant Uchiha as if able to sense his mild distress. "I know that I have been falling behind in your training as of late, Sasuke." He bit back a chagrinned look, hoping that he did not show his frustration openly just now. "So I called in a favor to get you a better tutor in sword fighting."

All three of the students perked up at this, with Naruto recovering first, expressing genuine happiness that the dark-haired boy would be getting someone to focus on him as he knew Glynda had been doing for him the past weeks. While the rest of them wondered just who would fit the bill and be available on such short notice.

"However," Glynda said, rising from her seat, meal already handily demolished much to the surprise of the others present who had somehow not been able to finish their own sandwiches. She held the crumpled paper in the palm of her hand, and right before their eyes it flattened itself out before folding into a pinwheel shape. "We have to make sure that you all are ready for when he arrives."

With a flash of her wrist, the paper star was sent hurtling through the air and lodged itself between Jaune's legs, sliding right into the stone he had been sitting on. He gulped, despite having nothing in his mouth. All three of them looked at the headmistress with eyes wide, and muscles tensing with the introduction of additional weight to the aloof atmosphere, ready to jump to their feet regardless of the half-finished lunch in their hands.

"So let's finish up and get back to training, shall we?"

* * *

"What? Training? This early?"

He questioned groggily and with a full-blown headache already in effect. The only reason he could conceive of to be up this early would because he was **still** up from the night before. And in any case, it was much too early for the sheer amount of drinking he had done yesterday (what? It was a celebration!). Being such a veteran imbiber in no way made him a morning person, which is much of the reason he got along so well with his underage nieces who could rarely be stirred before noon.

And yet, that stereotype of teenage sloth was shattered now as the usual guilty culprit of wasting daylight was pestering him in the midst of his first of many prophylactics he would require if he was to function without the consistent pestering of a hangover. One would have thought the young girl would want to take advantage of the first day off from classes (and surprise attacks on her school) in order to sleep in a little. But this was not the case.

He took a sip of his tar-colored caffeinated drink rather than pay attention to her answer to his rhetorical. That didn't work out so well, as the mug in front of him had turned on him in his neglect of it. Cold! Blech! How was it cold? He had just poured it- glancing at the cat clock on the wall wagging its slit eyes at him mockingly- an hour and a half ago. How long had she been trying to get him up?

"Come on Uncle Qrow! You've been saying you're almost ready for the past two hours! I even made you coffee!"

Ah. That explained that. Now if only he could hold onto this knowledge along with the rest of his consciousness, he might be able to formulate an intelligible excuse that would absolve him from the commitment he had apparently stumbled into in his stupor. But looking at the interminable pout on his youngest niece's face, he held little hope of this. Even in this most irritating of circumstances, it was near impossible to deny Ruby Rose in her childish tantrums. And if somehow, he did, she would break out the puppy eyes to get what she wanted.

He wasn't ready for that just yet. He hadn't had nearly enough alcohol for that.

"Alright, alright." He yawned languidly, covering his mouth as well as covertly hiding her adorable face from his view. "Just give me a minute to get dressed".

"But you're already dressed!" The hand stifling his yawn lashed out and clamped the girl's mouth shut, unable to take the current volume of the conversation any longer. As she struggled futilely to free herself, he looked down.

Huh. She was right. Guess he never got undressed before bed last night, assuming he had even made it there. Well that solved one problem. His free hand felt around in his breast pocket while his niece continued her ineffective struggle against his iron-grip on her mouth. Make that two problems. As Ruby distractedly nursed her now naturally full and red lips, Qrow slipped a tot of his flask into his mug and took a heavy sip. It did wonders for his mood, if not the taste.

"Okay." He said, standing up more abruptly than Ruby had been expecting. She quickly wiped away her crocodile tears and followed the swishing tail of her uncle's cape as it fled out the door and into the still damp morning.

Skipping into the coppice that lay just outside the door to the Xiao-Long/Rose residence, Ruby was all ready to attack the undefended back of her uncle in her eagerness to get started. Though he was not facing towards her, and had given every indication prior that he was not awake enough to mount a sufficient defense, Ruby herself knew differently. She had faced Qrow on sufficient occasion to never underestimate her step-uncle, no matter how aloof he appeared to be in his demeanor.

Though he was without weapon other than his cold coffee mug which held the majority of his attention as he stared into its murky depths, Qrow was aware of everything going on around him. And that included his niece with her scythe Crescent Rose fully deployed and perched to lop off his still aching head.

"Ruby."

His simple statement crackled like a gun in the chilly morning. Though summer was in full swing, the sun had yet to rise past the tree line, and all was still coated in a fine sheen of dew. The darkness hid the young woman's blush as she tripped and faltered at the stoic address, sliding to a stumbling halt on the slick grass.

"Hm?" She recovered, trying and failing to hide her massive weapon behind her back.

"Before we begin… I have to ask…"

He turned around to show her that the last vestiges of fatigue had flown like a murder of crows from his face. His eyes twin crystals of corundum staring her down, sending a chill down her spine that had nothing to do with the temperature. Though she knew he did indeed possess such a countenance, she had never anticipated being on the receiving end of it.

It was one thing to be stared at so seriously by those who wanted to harm you. It was quite another to see them in someone she trusted so implicitly.

"Why?"

She gulped, tongue licking out like a snake to wet her lips, though the day was far from dry. She had rehearsed this answer ever since she knew she and her sister would be going home for the break in the company of her uncle and mentor. And she had known of the question for far longer than that. It had always been there, ever since she decided to become a huntress. It was only now that it had become a necessity.

She dared do all that it was to become a huntress of renown. All that is, except to give up the things that brought her comfort. The habits which she had grown to shield herself from the rest of the world, she thought that she could keep them up forever. A year ago, she never would have fathomed that she would have to sacrifice her teenage years in deference to that ultimate goal.

But then again, there were others who sacrificed so much more.

She had to rectify sacrificing the inch that was left in her life that was her own, for the betterment of her skills which would serve others. Was it really such a large thing to ask? Maybe. Maybe even her sister wouldn't understand why she had to devote her every waking moment to this endeavor, eschewing what precious time they had to share. That was okay, as long as she realized it wasn't for lack of affection. Rather, because of it.

"Because…"

She wrung her hands on the knurled shaft of Crescent Rose, the feeling once bringing such reassurance now felt somewhat hollow. Her spirit reached out for something more, found what handhold she needed in her memories to pull herself up. Bonds she had forged braced her ascent.

She stood up straight under the unyielding gaze of her normally affectionate uncle, left Crescent Rose planted in the ground behind her as she took a step forward.

"Because… people are going to rely on me. Maybe not now, maybe not for some time…" She flicked her eyes to the side as her id screamed 'never', but drowned them out, retrained her focus as she pushed forward. "Regardless I need to get stronger, because I care about those people. Because I want- no I need to protect them." Because it wasn't always going to be the other way around. Because it shouldn't be.

It was apparently the answer the grizzled man had been expecting, if truly he had been anticipating anything at all. He held his stern farce for a breath, and half a heartbeat longer before the crook of his mouth betrayed him. The smirk which smiled warmly out at her from across the clearing made the young woman relax, her breath coming back to her in small clouds which scattered soon into oblivion.

The strawberry sunrise was sweet relief as it bled through the dew-kissed trees and bathed the glade in crimson light and creeping warmth which touched her hidden depths. And in those depths, something stirred. Something more than confidence and pride was awakening. Something responded to those upbeat, positive feelings, providing balance.

There was a deep chuckle which made the branching warmth falter and her blood run cold.

She heard her uncle mimic the sound which snatched her out of her reverie. She felt relief at her foolishness, but the truth was that the feeling that had passed was still a world apart from her view of her smiling uncle. And it was still there, apprehending teeth ivory daggers in the dark.

"Well then, best get started then, shall we?"

From out of nowhere Qrow plucked his weapon and twirled the massive blade in his unoccupied hand. Happy to have such a distraction, as well as finally getting what she had been working for the entire morning, Ruby allowed herself to smile as she settled into a stance, once again bringing her trusty scythe to the fore. The older man tossed aside his unadorned mug full of fortified coffee and reciprocated the move, shifting the sword to match his opponent's weapon.

She would burry herself in her training, as she was sure the rest of her friends were doing. She would do this so she no longer had to rely on others, for the tears they didn't have to shed. So she didn't have to think of the consequences of not being up to the challenge. So that doubt would not be excuse for failure. And secretly, unbeknown to herself, so that she didn't have to look too deep into the alternative.

" _Fool. There will always be tears, because there will always be failure."_

Blades as sharp as fangs gnashed against one another.

" _After all, to err is to be…human."_

Perspiration perched on needle-like hair dyed crimson in the dawn.

" _To hope for anything more is wishful thinking, girl."_

* * *

"Thanks for being available so late, doctor."

"That's Doct- ahem- yes, quite. No trouble, really, no trouble at all."

Oobleck coughed into his hand while never tearing his focus away from the gridded distribution of data flickering across the ancient tube-monitor. Hunched over as he was over the keyboard, with the subtle glow of the screen accentuating the tortured contours of his face, he looked especially manic to the headmistress who consistently tried to hide such signs of fatigue. But to give the eccentric double-graduate the benefit of the doubt, he always looked like that. Frizzed green hair and celerity of speech always flagging him as an outlier to the normal distribution of sanity.

"Uh, if I may ask though," He craned his neck in his swivel chair whose rollers were immobile on the dirt floor, to address the woman just entering the temporary structure.

"What exactly is this data for?" He absently punched a few keys on his second-hand keyboard. "Don't get me wrong, I was happy to work on it. It's fascinating, truly. These samples that you have provided me are unlike anything I have ever observed nor anything mentioned in any text that I have read- which I will humbly qualify is quite a few- if properly analyzed by a study provided proper funding I have no doubt that it would gain all kinds of accolades and put Beacon back on the map." He coughed once again catching his mistake. "Figuratively, I mean of course."

"Of course." Glynda replied, trying hard to hide the twitch in her eye. "But I am afraid that will not be possible. At least, not at the moment. Whatever you found has to remain a secret." She narrowed her eyes dangerously at the loud-mouthed man. "And I do mean secret."

He scoffed at her accusatory gaze. "Please, you should know by now that Bartholomew Oobleck is hardly a gossip." He adjusted his own glasses as he huffed in indignation and her harsh look alleviated.

"Of course, Bartholomew. I didn't mean to imply anything, I just wanted to emphasize the importance of this request." She carefully tread the uneven floor in her high heels and sat down in an adjacent office chair in equal state of decrepitude. "And I do mean request. This is not an order from your headmaster, but rather an appeal from a friend." He nodded to her soft but imploring tone as she continued. "The fewer people that know of this analysis, the better, the safer we will all be."

"Right." He once again nodded his solemn understanding, reading between the lines. "Well, it's not like I can't guess what this is." He turned back to the tabulated numbers on the screen that would be just gibberish to any outside observer. To the one that had meticulously tallied them, however, they spoke in clear whispers decrying their mundanity.

"So," She stared at him fixated, calmly but on the edge of her patience if her hand rigidly gripping her knee was any indication. "What have you found?"

"I won't bother prefacing this too much with the uncertainties you must be aware of. We are… limited in what we can do here." She frowned, reluctantly admitting their deficiency in this area. It was with luck and no small amount of financial finagling that they had generator power to spare to run such an operation, and still have enough leftover for maintaining their standard of living.

"But here is what I have found: the tissue that you obtained was enough to provide me with four separate samples which I could use to run tests." He gestured over to the most brightly lit part of the cave-like tent to where the four visible petri dishes sat under the limelight.

"For expediency's sake, and because we did not need any hard, empirical results, I ran four separate tests without controls. Since I assume you can probably get me more," She narrowed her gaze as he posited the unasked question. "-that is if push came to shove.

"Regardless," He continued without missing a beat, teleporting over to the sample table where the fruits of his labor were actually visible, and unlike the numbers crunched through his computer, comprehensible by layman's terms. "You can see for yourself my findings." She did indeed, not far behind the good doctor when he left his seat, Glynda had her focus already drawn to the four samples ever since she entered the room and now stood over them with rapt attention.

"What these mutations mean, of course, is what you asked me to find out." He stated clinically while the woman stared wide-eyed over the rim of her glasses at the samples, trying to comprehend what she was seeing.

"You know of course, that all living things contain Aura, even plants do to some extent, though that is not well known or often overlooked for *ahem* the sake of brevity." He coughed lightly expressing his disapproval and raised a single finger with that hand.

"All life is also made up of cells, another biology basic. What is not well understood is how Aura can affect these cells, and indeed which is the greater force in the development of a living being. It is the proverbial chicken and the egg, and we have not yet had enough experience nor technological advance to be able to parse this mystery out."

"Not, that is, until now?" She asked, enraptured by the bizarre, twisted and otherwise gruesome things she was seeing on the table, but still hanging on to his every word.

"Alas, no." He admitted without hint of defeat. "But my experiments did perhaps unravel a little bit about the potential of the study. In each of these dishes, I carefully applied a metered amount of Aura from some willing donors." Glynda had to wonder just how he managed to accomplish this task, as well as question how 'willing' those donors really were. But with her trust of Oobleck, as well as her equal determination for results, she remained silent.

"As you can see, the tissue samples each interacted differently with individual Aura applied. Which is no surprise, as it would be necessary for the host's body to be able to channel the Aura available to it. And while highly abnormal, if one were to receive a transfusion of Aura, the host's cells would still be able to channel that foreign source in the same way as before, using something akin to muscle memory. Not so with the samples."

Though it went a great deal towards explaining what she was seeing, the revelation brought forth scores of new questions that she smothered in her throat as a large lump which when swallowed weighed heavy in her gut. She awaited the hyperactive man to divulge further. Oobleck himself now leaned over her shoulder to admire his own work, and through the reflection of her own glasses she could see the almost frenzied spark in his eyes as he talked.

"Each of the samples took to the Aura as if it was its own. In some cases, it responded even stronger than how it manifested in the donor."

She played a guessing game with herself to try to normalize what she was looking at, keep from thinking about how disturbing it really was. She tried to imagine who the original donator of the Aura might be.

In the bottom-left corner the square centimeter sample had been petrified, grayed and brittle as a sliver of stone. The one just above had become fecund, a thumbnail-sized bonsai. The one to the right of that looked unremarkable- as unremarkable as a square of skin possibly could- but she had to contain herself when Oobleck reached over and poked it, demonstrating its piezoelectric properties as sparks bit his outstretched fingers. And the last one…

"That's his, isn't it?"

Oobleck nodded with a subtle smile on his face, like a proud parent gazing longingly at his children.

"Indeed it is."

She **really** didn't want to know how he got the Aura, but then again, she doubted he would be inclined to hear how she got the tissue samples in the first place. But even if she didn't recognize the effects, she would have known even by the smidgen of residual energy in the air, whose it was.

The third petri dish was like considering a miniature fog bank, splashed with just a tinge of colored light. But the more she stared at it, the more she could work out the intricacies of the flesh it once was, subtle ripples interspersed with places hair follicles should be, bubbles of potential cells held in suspension.

She drew back abruptly, nearly headbutting Oobleck as the fog turned into flesh soup in her mind and she began to feel sick. She turned around to face the darkness and so that she didn't have to face her own misdeeds anymore.

"So?" She drawled out at last, after a pause to control the bile in her throat. She was not a weak woman, and had seen her fair share of 'scraped knees' in her time as deputy headmaster. But her worry was compounding her guilt, and rational was not as forthcoming as it should be.

"Essentially what we have are essentially archetypal Aura Cells, Arc-Cells if you will. Underdeveloped cells which are extremely malleable and can be made to channel almost any Aura into a Semblance. The possibilities are… limitless." He fell silent after the last, perhaps awed by its implications, only realizing them for the first time since the words were laid bare.

"Yes…limitless." And potentially dangerous, if exposed to someone else's Aura, there was no saying if it could be controlled by the host. Living cells were no mere channels for which to funnel Aura, they were machines which busily converted the energy to useful mediums in fractions of a second. One could not just tell them not to process Aura given. And what if they were given too much? The regulation of Aura within the body was yet another mystery that had yet to be unlocked.

But she kept most of her reservations to herself. She was sure that if she had the Dr. work any more on this little side project, he would soon come to the realization himself. He was working within a limited scope at the moment, but it would not take much for him to put the tissue samples at a macro level, in the context of a human, or rather, a Faunus.

"Are there-" She did not know how best to word her question without revealing too much. It wasn't that she didn't trust the man, and it may end up better having more rather than fewer in on the secret. But for now, she couldn't take that chance. "Are there any… weaknesses that have manifested in the samples?"

The man looked confused for a second, adjusting his glasses as he mulled the words around in his mind.

"Well, I wasn't able to identify any structural weaknesses within the tissue samples, either before or after." She let out a breath she didn't know she was holding, but managed to pass it off as a sound of acknowledgment.

"However, I really can't say for certain." He shrugged his shoulders and shook his head frustratingly. "Without more samples, many more, I would not be able to say. And I would need time. Time to run continuous tests to see if prolonged exposure would weasel out any potential deficiencies."

"I see." This time she could not hide her disappointment, though tried to soften it as much as possible so as not to offend the man and his dedicated work which he was doing as pure largess.

But if he was in any way hurt by her lack of excitement, he didn't show it as he moved over to her, his long legs for once not having to move very fast to cross the distance between. He laid a gentle hand on her shoulder, ignoring their professional relationship for a moment to give her support as a long-time friend.

"Now, now, Glynda. Though we can never be certain, we know more now than we did. And there is nothing obviously dangerous about the samples, at least nothing that I can see."

She sighed and rubbed the side of her head, weariness finally catching up to her. Her eyelids drooped and she could feel the bags under her eyes, sure that the makeup hiding them had long since worn away. Though she had been awake probably as long as Oobleck had, she had also been on her feet all day, every day. Whether chipping away at rebuilding the school, or, more often than not, coaching her three high-energy students.

"I would not worry about Mr. Uzumaki, if I were you."

Even in the encroaching haze, she started at the sudden mention of his name. She opened her mouth to question, probably belligerently, how he knew the origin of the samples, but he held a pacifying hand up, requesting cooler heads talk things out.

"Even had I not seen the recordings of your spar with him, I would have known." Oobleck revealed the source of his knowledge, and Glynda kicked herself for not remembering the cameras she herself had installed in the classroom. "Uzumaki and his friend are special. It's not that hard to see." He stated the patently obvious. To be honest, she wondered how many people had made the connection with the event ages ago. Always mystified at the willful ignorance of people. Some people, at least.

Oobleck was not such a person. Long winded and pretentious at times, but he knew what he was talking about, as well as what he said. He might have been excused for not knowing Naruto and Sasuke's friendship was in a hard patch, to say the least. But somehow, she suspected that even still, he meant what he said. He was far more perceptive than people gave him credit for. One reason among many she had trusted him with this task, and why she might need to trust him with more in the future.

That revelation was easy to swallow. What came next was a punch in the gut.

" **Naruto** isn't the one you should be worried about…"

* * *

He awoke from a dream of falling right before he hit the bottom, right before he hit the bottom. The rough ground of the shared tent was a harsh way to awake. But it was nothing compared to the agony he experienced when he tried to open his eyes. He bit his tongue to keep from screaming out, lest he wake his bunk mates. Though the way Glynda had worked them, they probably could have slept through anything. He should have as well, but was rudely awakened from hallucinatory death by the arch-demon of pain.

He stumbled out the half-buttoned fly and into the cool night. The hands which clutched his face fumbled to find the invisible shives that felt like they were buried in his eyes, through the blood which dribbled down past his chin. But with his tongue now also crying hot, angry tears, he could not find the source of the wound which spilled his lifeblood down the front of his nightshirt.

His feet carried him further away from the tent, just where he was not sure, but far enough away hopefully that he could unleash the cries he swallowed which were turning to acid in his gut. He found his way by brail, trees bouncing him back and forth like a pinball as he ran. He stumbled, only get up. Feet moved if only to move, if only to distract himself from the pain eating him alive. He dared not move his hands, he had wherewithal enough to know that he would claw his own face off his did.

The little burst of adrenaline that had rallied to the dream-death gave out and he fell to his knees. And then all at once it was gone, no more urgency, no more pain other than the obstinate roots digging into his bare legs. Nothing. His breath came hackly and ragged, but soon settled as he let the familiar sound of cicadas drown out his pounding heart. He dared open his eyes past the tidepools of bodily fluids that had accreted there.

Yet nothing.

Tentatively, shakily, he reached up to feel his muddled features, brush away the congealing, sticky mess that had become of his handsome face. Careful fingers scraped away the gunk from his eyes, he blinked in the darkness. The abject darkness.

Even in the midst of the Emerald Forest in the dead of night, there should have been some source of light. Either from one of their lights, still bright with one of the few staff burning the midnight oil. Or at the very least, from the sliver of shattered moon that should be peaking through the canopy. But there was nothing. Not even the fearsome glowing red eyes of Grimm to remind him that he was still alive.

He wanted to laugh, tried to, but his raw throat funneling air past the wounded slab of flesh only produced a whet cough that could have passed for a whimper. Instead, his chest heaved in silent chortles as the bloody tears continued to fall from his face.

The years of waiting passed him by as he settled into an almost meditative state. Except that he was aware of everything going on around him, everything passing inside of him. While the latter was his focus, it was the former which drew him to action.

"What do you want?" He rasped out harder than he intended, though his tongue had only just managed to suture itself back together enough to form words that might be intelligible.

He could feel the eyes boring holes in his back.

"Are you alright?"

He wanted to laugh again, but remembering the first time, grit his teeth in a cruel smile.

"What do you think?" He raised his head up so that it would not be shadowed by his midnight hair which had grown too long in his negligence. "Even an idiot like you should be able to tell how I am." Though he could not see anything, he knew the speaker could, even if the night was as black as it pretended to be. Such was the benefit of being a Faunus.

The familiar voice didn't rise to the jibe. But even though he was silent, the pained young man could tell that he was still there. He was proved correct when his remaining senses found the soft footsteps padding their way near silently over to him. He felt two strong but wiry arms take him by the shoulder and lead him over to lean his back against a wide tree trunk. He wanted to call the arms back when they left him alone, but repressed the urge. Old habits being the only thing hanging on to him now.

He wanted to believe that the voice was still there, though he could not fathom why they were silent, especially when staring at his surely less than appealing face.

"I must look like a real mess." He probed the darkness, hoping for a return. A moment, ages for him, passed.

"I know it's terrible." He huffed ironically, thinking that it was his visage being described.

"I know it's terrible." The person repeated, and he understood that it was lamenting something else.

"I should be feeling awful too. I should be empathizing with you right now, feeling your pain and trying to take it on myself. But…"

As the voice wavered, he felt his own tears try to force their way into his eyes.

"But I can't! No matter what I do, I can't remember you beyond these weeks we've trained together. I have this distrust, this mistrust of you that is infecting me, poisoning who I know I am. But at the same time, there is that part of me that wants to feel for you, that wants to trust you, and, and….

IT'S TEARING ME APART!"

He felt the words shake his soul as the fists impacted the tree trunk shook his body leaned against it. It was ridiculous that here he was, stumbling around dumbly, and yet he should feel sorry for the one that should rescue him. But such was life. Such was their fucked-up life.

"Naruto…" He choked out, unsure of what to say, unsure if he should say anything. But he had given the boy plenty of space these past few weeks and it clearly wasn't working. But what now could words do for him to fix this drastic chasm that had interjected itself? He searched for words of condolence, of sympathy, even of anger, but could find none which would force themselves through his lips.

"Naruto… I think…I think I'm blind."

He cried, and he could not see the color of his tears.

* * *

"You ready to go, Kiddo?"

She wiped her head with the back of her calloused hand, a streak of dirty blood, diluted with sweat left itself on the there.

"I'll be there in a moment. You go on ahead Uncle Qrow." She called out from where she rested with her back pressed against the rough bark of a pine, Crescent Rose draped across her splayed-out legs.

"That's Mr. Branwen to you." He replied with a teasing lilt as he returned his weapon to its rightful place on his back. "Inside the house I'm Uncle Qrow all day long, but out here I'm the boss. Got it?"

A weakly protesting tongue sticking back out at him was his only answer. He pointed an accusing finger at her as he passed. "Just remember: you asked for this!" She lazily waved him off with the one hand not resting on her weapon and he chuckled as he started on his way back.

"Just don't stay out too late now. There are still Grimm out here you know!" She smiled softly at his concerned nagging. "And Ruby Rose, when you get back you make sure to have something **decent** to eat! No Junk food!"

Heh, fat chance of that, she thought smugly to herself as she stopped watching the sun set and started counting the first stars to appear in the velvety sky. She was so tired that when she did finally drag herself back, she would be lucky to stuff enough in her mouth to offset the work she had put out today.

She had given it her all. Maybe for the first time ever. Even when she was working to prepare for the Beacon entrance exams, which at the time were supposedly two years away, she had not been left in such a state by the end. Everything ached now, her arms felt like they were about to fall off from defending strike after strike from her physically superior uncle. Her legs were burning from prolonged use of her semblance, and her Aura was just the dregs from absorbing all the blows she neglected to block. It hurt.

But it was a good kind of hurt. If such a thing existed.

While her body was weak, her ego was strong. She was proud of herself, and confident in her progress. It had only been 5 days, not even a week, and yet she could objectively gauge the advancement. It was slight, to be sure, but in battle every second, every split second counted. And now she was splitting hairs catching up to her Uncle. Shaving off millimeters from her stance, nanoseconds from her response time. Another week, one more RCH closer to fighting him to a draw.

But was it worth it?

She had not missed her sister in those five days. She had not had time. But beyond that, Yang had joined them on a handful of occasions and put on a good show when she did. But only for a limited time, as she eventually tired herself out and lacked the will to push herself past her natural limits.

Her older sister had retreated home to do the things rightfully done during a break from duty. It was curious to Ruby though that this should be the case. Yang had been a part of the epic battle as well, but it had apparently affected her very differently, and she still outwardly maintained her flirtatious attitude.

Then again, Yang hadn't killed anyone.

It was in defense, of both her and her dear friend. But the fact still stood as clear as a crucifix, and she couldn't deny it, couldn't hide in her old habits any longer. And rather than focus on the negative aspects of such forced maturity, she found her outlet in the responsibility bequeathed to her. Just as she had risen to the occasion when asked to lead her team, so too could she meet the challenge now. It was no different than anything she had experienced as a kid trying to move on from her mother's death.

It was just a world apart. The land of adulthood was a foreign and strange land, harsh and deadly if one wasn't careful. But she would still push through. She would fight now so she would be ready later.

There was no point shedding tears for a lost childhood, abandoned and neglected in the progress of life.

The sound carried far in the evening air which had become dense as the sun dropped and stopped warming the clearing.

"Ruuuuuby! Cookies are done!"

Rose petals and pine needles hung suspended in a column of air as the clearing emptied itself of its sole inhabitant. Crows cawed defiantly as a warm gust ruffled their carefully preened feathers. A small dog barked excitedly into the oncoming night as the young woman made her way back to the soft light of the humble home which beckoned her.

Responsibility and trepidation were equally shrugged off at the transept, as easily as the crimson cloak which was hung beside them.

* * *

OMAKE: **(Really hope this one is better than the last, but I felt CH1 deserved better closure)**

Sasuke sighed as he pushed the pasta around on his plate with a pair of chopsticks, too tired to really do anything else and not hungry enough to finish the only food he would get for the night. Not even the allure of freshly made tomato sauce could entice him to be more enthusiastic. Distracted was he? Probably. But then again, he always had a lot on his mind these days.

He had just managed to extract himself from the disaster become of the store room before the cafeteria called last call. It had been one of the sous-chefs which had shed a light on his situation, and he spent a good deal of time cleaning up the mess made by Nora in her haste to run away as part of the one-sided game.

Was he annoyed to be ditched so? Hell yeah, but that wasn't really the problem now. He had tagged an equally confused Ren, who was soon brought up to speed by Nora, and had effectively hidden himself from their black-hole of a game which seemed to suck everyone within radius into its effects. It now encompassed damn near the whole encampment, and he was determined not to be roped back in.

It wasn't hard to remain unmolested, apparently. Most of the contestants seemed to consider the mess tent a 'safe zone', although the rule had never been explicitly stated. So he had sat there for the better part of the early evening, and well into its midst, just pushing his food around his plate, taking the occasional bite here and there, undisturbed by the now tepid flavor.

Was this sudden onset of discontent a sign of boredom?

Nope! Nope! Nope! A thousand times HELL NOPE!

But seriously, it worried him a little that this chaos was going on around him, the sounds of giddy battle carrying through the flimsy walls and giving him a front row seat to the slapstick opera being waged just beyond. Correction: it worried him that this was happening and he had yet to see hide nor hair of his amnesic friend who he was **certain** was the culprit behind the whole thing.

The previous statement required amendment as he let out a sweat drop upon seeing two pronounced fox ears poke themselves over the edge of a table two down from his own. He stared at his plate, focused on the mashed mess in front of him less his eye continue to spasm uncontrollably as the furry triangles continued to twitch and swivel like some travesty of radar.

He was almost relieved when the shadow eclipsed his table, sharpening to an outline of a splayed fox ready to pounce. Which was just what he saw as he glanced back up, the blond Faunus a perfect imitation of his vulpine counterpart, clawed hands spread wide as his gaping mouth which revealed the extra two elongated canines (damn those were long!). Crazed glint in the eyes of the animalistic hunter as he could taste his prey.

As honored as he was to be considered part of the game by his friend, being on the receiving end of a tag from those razor-sharp paws was not on his list of things he wanted to do for the evening. But to counteract this potentially harmful tussle would mean forgoing restraint, something he was even more hesitant to do.

Escape found the corner of his eye as one of the large room's flaps was pulled back and two potential substitutes entered.

Naruto himself was lost in the thrill of the chase. He had tagged everyone at least once in the course of their game which had lasted the better part of the day. Everyone, that is, except the mysterious raven-haired boy. He still barely understood the confusing situation as it stood between them, but right now such frivolous things hardly mattered in the wake of the Great Game, to which he had lost himself in its inebriating adrenaline reward.

He would claim his target, and that was all there was to it.

And he was so close, close enough that he could taste the pasta the teen uncommittedly moved around his plate. Close enough that he could feel the fabric catching on his surprisingly sharp finger nails. Close enough that he could see his reflection in her glasses….wait, what?

It was too late to stop, though. His hand had already been launched on its centripetal arc, following his body that he had hurled forward far before theat. Even though he could clearly see his target had been replaced by the bemused and slightly fearful face of Glynda Goodwitch, he could do nothing to prevent himself from making contact, though he tried to retard the energetic slap as much as possible.

The whole room including the chefs and busboys behind the counter stood still after he landed. Fate and their comparative heights placed his expectant hand in a most strategically inconvenient location as he stood on the table. He too was still as death awaiting the hell storm that was sure to come from the one person known not to posses a humorous bone in her body, and whom ordered specifically that he was to remain in bed. He didn't even care that one bare foot was mired in the remains of the pasta his original target (who had long since fled the impending doom) had been eating.

"Umm…tag?" He ventured lamely, watching as the eyes once wide with surprise narrowed dangerously realizing the inappropriate placing of his hand.

"NOTAGBACKSDONTHURTME!"

The unintelligible jargon was hurled as a smokescreen in her face as Naruto quickly beat a retreat back to the most remote corners of the complex, hopefully far enough away that by the time she found him she would have calmed down enough not to staple him to his mattress.

"Glynda! Are you alright?"

Ironwood jogged over to the newly crowned headmistress, ignoring the heated words they had shared moments prior in favor of her safety. He had not seen what exactly had transpired between the blond Faunus and her, other than a flurry of movement kicked off by Glynda suddenly teleporting in front of the boy's momentous leap. Capped off by the young man's flight, he saw only the woman's cold gaze trailing him as he scrambled to get out of the blast zone.

"Uh, Glynda? Is everything alright?"

He probed tentatively, not being acknowledged by the stoic woman who was coolly fixed on the young man's egress. He was about to reach out a hand to stir her from her silence when the fearsome gaze was suddenly fixed on him. He gulped as his death was played out in that toxic green stare, not dulled in the slightest by the thin layer of glass and inconsequential distance that lay between them. He was overcome with the distinct feeling that she had somehow, however inconceivable, found him to blame for the whole incident.

He squeezed his eyes shut as he saw the clenched fist shoot from her side, but never felt the blow.

Instead it was a single, manicured fingernail which poked him right in the middle of his forehead above his screwed shut gaze.

"You're it."

When he dared open his eyes again, Glynda was gone. And so too was everyone else, including the kitchen staff, who, if they had not fled in the moments before Naruto had, did so when Ironwood had his eyes shut. The general was all alone in the cavernous tent, a ruined plate of pasta to keep him company.

"Hello? Anybody?"

Maybe it **was** better if he just left.


	4. Amen

**Well, here we are again. I meant to have this out Sunday, but as usual fell short of my goals. In any case, I hope that maybe this can be a good decompression for everyone on a Monday evening (for my US readers, at least)**

 **Speaking of which, noticing not too many of you out there. Did we lose that many from the first part, or are they really not aware that the sequel is out?**

 **Anyway, no more to say...and yet I'm still writing.**

 **That's because someone else needs their say here: I am obliged to give a HUGE shout-out to Drag0n5on for his invaluable inspiration for this chapter, and really for the direction of the story from here on out. I do not exaggerate. And if you should be reading this, know I appreciate you being with me through the course of this. Though this is still written for my own edification, it would be so much more hollow a thing without people like you. **

**All hail the reviewers!**

* * *

She thought she dreamed of nightingales keeping her company as she slept. When she woke, she thought it was to the beating wings of a lark taking flight.

But it was not the nightingales, nor the lark, and her dreams were vanished in the unforgiving day.

It was the deep thrum of engines, twin oscillations of dust powered jets which set up a dissonant frequency in time with her heart. Her eyes cracked open to see that the morning had replaced the night, the gale-force of the wind replaced by the equally savage cushion of air which supported the craft.

Her rough blanket replaced by Neo, who had curled as close as humanly possible to her to ward off the alpine chill. Though a part of her desired nothing more than to let the poor woman sleep, the same countenance that had occupied her the previous night had no patience for rest. Not when escape was so close.

"Get up, Neo."

She shook the girl under the crook of her arm, frankly surprised that the noise hadn't woken her yet. She had pushed herself farther than she would have liked to admit. Emerald stared long enough at the awakened woman to see the flip-book color change of her eyes as they fluttered to life. Then she turned her attention back the Bullhead, which was landing across from them in the small dale.

From the forward view of the cockpit when it had approached them, the vehicle turned broadside now to display its lack of markings. Save the inky black ring on its engine cowl. Emerald felt herself smile, perhaps for the first time seeing this unostentatious demarcation.

For once, she was not afraid of going to see her master's master. In fact, there was an eagerness unbecoming of her. And impatience, to be rid of the filth and rags that covered her and her companion, and to satiate her unbridled hunger. Perhaps too there was that dread still cowering inside of her. But the other emotions drove it deep and far away from the light of their blazing passion.

She didn't bother wondering how the otherworldly woman knew she would be there. Nor did she wonder why all this effort was being made on their behalf. Both were foolish questions, and the least concern in her mind as she got to her feet, pulling the smaller woman with her.

Newly roused, Neo blinked in surprise at the strength displayed by someone who in all rights should still be bedridden. She stumbled slightly as Emerald's firm grip left her on her own. She looked over, appraising the bullhead for the first time herself. Her eyes squinted to shield them from the loose debris kicked up by the backlash from the engines. She was confused, but took some comfort in the confidence displayed by her cohort.

That self-assurance was forced to share equal space with trepidation, however, as Emerald turned to look back at her. The smile she had on her face was sly and confident at the same time, and disturbingly familiar to the young swordswoman.

Either way, though, the look had her hooked, and she was along for the ride.

"Come on Neo, let's go home."

* * *

"Great. Can I go now?"

Both Naruto and Jaune backed up a pace as their teacher and warden looked one word away from blowing a gasket. It was to the best of fortunes of everyone in the room that her tirade was pre-empted by the other adult in the room, who came in as a more sedate voice of reason.

"Mr. Uchiha, when you came in here you were totally blind, and, need I remind you, bleeding from your eye sockets." As if to emphasize this, the green-haired man wadded up a handful of crimson-stained gauze and threw it into the waste bin at his feet before peeling off his equally contaminated latex gloves and doing the same to them with a snap of impatience.

"We don't even know **how** you regained your sight, nor how you lost it in the first place. I would be totally remiss as a doctor if I didn't recommend staying here overnight so that we can monitor you properly."

"Um, didn't you get your doctorate in history Dr. Oobleck?" Jaune questioned nervously from the sidelines, hoping to diffuse the situation.

The lanky man huffed and crossed his arms as he stared down the tent's other human bean pole.

"As a matter of fact, I did. And I did so **after** getting my medical degree." He informed the nervous young man who now looked like he knew better than to ask a further foolish question.

"Doesn't matter." The subject in question grunted as he sat upright and pushed the invasive lights out of his face. "I'm fine now, so let's get back to training." Sasuke hopped off the gurney and stretched his arms deliberately, hoping to reinforce his point.

Glynda by this time was turning a special shade of red past burgundy, but had remained silent at the behest of the medical professional. It was the least she could do after all he had done for her. She just hoped that she wouldn't end up as the one in the gurney after she blew a blood vessel.

"Sasuke." The single word was the weight of a thousand when spoken by that person. Sasuke halted in the process of putting on his shirt, one arm through and the other bunched up. Turning to give the blond young man his undivided attention.

"I really think you should listen to Professor Oobleck. You shouldn't try to push yourself after this. There's no need." It took all the patience of the saints to keep the older man from interrupting to correct and ruining the moment, but Sasuke still sighed and shook his head.

"The need now is perhaps greater than ever." He let the words sink in to the room at large, conjuring up a number of questioning looks, but also a distinct few of understanding. "Besides," He finished putting on his white, long-sleeve half- button shirt before throwing on a confident smirk; the former of which he wore better. "If I get hurt again I can always have you drag me back here."

Naruto frowned gravely, and Sasuke felt himself wither slightly at the sight. On the surface it was no different than the expression he had seen a thousand times before, but in reality it was a look which bore a lack of understanding. Concern, but shallow and without depth of the past they had once shared. That hurt far worse than the pain in his eyes.

Oobleck sighed and broke the staring contest.

"Well, in the end it is your decision. I can't hold you here." He looked at Glynda, as if willing her to say otherwise, but there was the pragmatic part of her that knew they could not shirk off on the training for even a day. She stayed silent, and the man sighed again. "I suppose there shouldn't be any **more** harm in training. If anything should occur, I'll be right here." He gestured to the tent set up as a lab in general, but Glynda saw him focus on the samples sitting innocuously on the table.

"Just, try to take it easy, would you?" The man stood laboriously and started to put his sterilized instruments away. "We don't exactly have a surplus of medical supplies at the moment."

Sasuke rolled his eyes, but nodded none the less, appreciative of the very real need to be conservative with their resources. Though Beacon had borne the brunt of the attack, Vale in general had suffered some as well from the stampede of Grimm moving through the city trying to get to the school and to Naruto. Most of the aid had gone to them after being diverted by Glynda.

This was part of the overall strategy to get the approval to rebuild the school. The fewer resources they took in rebuilding, the more attractive the prospect looked to the city planners. They wanted the academy to be an attraction for prospective students, not bait for Grimm or a pit of wasted effort.

Though almost none in present company were satisfied by the outcome, least of all the headmistress, she herself knew they had wasted enough time with the fruitless examination, and had in the end not found anything wrong with the young man apart from the loss of blood through the tear ducts. There was no question that whatever was happening to him was very real, but with so many other problems on her hands right then and there, this one solving itself was a welcome respite.

"Right then," The woman carefully let her riding crop return to its original, un-bent state, before schooling herself and picking out her next few words. "I suppose that since your new tutor is arriving today, it would be best to greet them in person. Doctor." She nodded in Oobleck's direction as she stepped out of the entrance way, ushering the other two students out of the tent with her hand.

They made to follow, but curiosity got the better of one of them, and Jaune paused mid-stride.

"A new tutor? Who did you manage to find?"

Naruto wondered the same thing, though in not quite as elegant of terms, and Sasuke himself would have admitted to a healthy curiosity if he had anything at all to say. Though the two of them naturally knew nobody of note in that world, it would be interesting to meet whoever would voluntarily come out to their broken-down neck of the woods for the sake of a handful of students.

Glynda fixed Jaune with a particularly unnerving smile that he was sure had little to do with the question.

"Well, why don't we go meet her and find out?"

* * *

"That's it Ruby, keep going."

The young woman replied by doing as instructed, once again going through the prescribed routine with a singular focus. Even without her Semblance she was a blur, soft grunts of exertion bellowed in the afternoon air and blade singing through the trees. Each iteration taxed her, but each time she got just a little bit faster, a sliver more accurate.

Qrow stood appraising her from across the clearing, projecting an air of nonchalance as he leaned under the shade of a tree. But past his smug smile, he watched his young niece follow his direction unquestioningly, and could not help but wonder what had changed.

Of course, he knew what she and her friends had gone through during the battle for Beacon. He had insisted on seeing the aftermath of her first kill himself. Truth be told, he was glad it was a man such as Adam Taurus that she had sullied her hands on, despite the extra baggage carried by the young woman's teammate. That still did not negate the guilt that she no doubt felt in the execution of the act, and in fact might have exacerbated it.

But of all the conditions that she could have developed in response, this unfaltering devotion to self-improvement was not one he could have anticipated. He kept looking for signs of repressed trauma, cracks in the surface betraying the transverse fault which lay beneath and which could tear the girl in two if left unchecked. He couldn't find any, however. Even after almost a week straight of training which should have exhausted any defense she might have erected.

Was it too much to say he was proud of his niece?

No, but at the same time, he was a little worried that she seemed to be growing up so quickly. Ruefully, he admonished himself as he found himself thinking like her father. Lord knew that he should never be anyone's parent.

He went to take a swig from his flask, to highlight this fact and to kill off any braincells that might say otherwise, but paused with the stainless-steel rim hovering above his lips.

"Dare I ask what you want here?"

His only audience, a sleek raven that had landed on the branch above his head, cocked its head in seeming confusion as its beady eyes appraised the scraggly man's face.

"What? Can't I just drop in and say high every now and then?"

Qrow growled and resisted the urge to toss his precious flask at the pernicious animal. But that would serve little other purpose than to aggravate him, for the fragile bird that had flown in was gone in the same manner, and a woman as sharp and beautiful as the katana on her hip had taken its place as she stepped silently from the other side of the tree which supported him.

Instead, he sighed and rudely capped the container, stowing away in his back pocket, as far away from his sister as he could get it.

"I'll ask again: what do you want Raven?"

He tried his best to rally his patience. As much as he loved her, her presence never portended anything good, and he could not count on her to share as much familial affection towards either him or his niece. So despite his being in the right to be short with the sociopathic woman, he dared not. It would not accomplish anything to provoke a fight with her.

"What happened at Beacon?"

He snorted and ran a hand through his perpetual bedhead, a wry smile and a feeling of superiority worming its way out at his sister's ignorance.

"Don't you read the papers?" He asked sardonically. Despite not wishing to antagonize the woman, he would lord this small victory over her if she wanted to barter information from him. "Or watch the news? It's all they could talk about for the past weeks."

He imagined her eye twitching as much as he caught the distinctive sound of her fingernail toying with the hilt of her Ō-katana. He knew he might as well be balancing himself on the edge of that blade, but with forced sobriety gained boldness.

"I want to know what really happened." She drawled out evenly, not bothering to hide the consternation she felt.

"Almost a year ago now," She continued, not giving him another chance to prod her anemone-like patience. "I felt…a disturbance. A source of energy unlike anything I have every felt."

Qrow felt his throat dry up and desperately desired a drink, stronger than anything he had on his person. He knew where this conversation was heading, and did not particularly want to open up that can of worms. But how to keep it sealed? For once, his sister was apparently ignorant of a critical event in Remnant's history, and he preferred to keep it that way if he could. But that was the question.

"That's a pretty general statement." He shrugged carelessly, but berated himself inwardly for answering her at all. "Care to be more specific?" If he had to give up anything, he would try to get as much as he could in return. "What did it feel like? More powerful? Darker?" More demonic? What exactly did his sister see when gazing upon the otherworldly being? He knew what it felt like, but could not imagine what the event must have looked like to a sensitive.

"What's color to a blind man?" She shook her head, glossy black hair shimmering like falling feathers. When I say unlike anything I have ever felt, I mean unlike **anything** else. I couldn't begin to compare it. Except," He flinched as he felt her quit her own leaning and glide over behind him.

"Except?"

"Except that I felt it again. About a month ago."

During the battle of Beacon. Of course. There was no skating around the issue now. She knew he had been there, and there was little to no chance he could convince her he hadn't seen anything. She might have thought him a fool (and was possibly correct in the assumption), but knew he was not blind.

"I teleported there, but by the time I arrived the source seemed to have disappeared." She mentioned offhandedly, answering his own unasked query.

So what to do then? He really didn't want to reveal anything about the two shinobi to her if he didn't have to, but it did not look like he had much of a choice. What would she do then? Would she go after Naruto or Sasuke to try and win them over to her side? Or maybe she would just kidnap them without bothering to ask their consent. Or she might even try to eliminate the perceived threat to her clan altogether…

Raven saw her brother hesitate, knowing she had him more or less cornered. Still, despite how little he thought of her, she was not cruel. She knew he had the ultimate say in whether or not he revealed anything, and she much preferred to get what she wanted from a willing participant than anything revealed under duress. So, she decided to sweeten the pot.

"If you tell me what you know about it, I'll tell you what I know."

Qrow paused once again as his internal debate reset, trying to decide if her offer had any merit to it. What could she possibly know that he didn't? She admitted that she did not know what exactly had transpired. At least, not directly. Perhaps as an outside observer she could tell them something more about the two shinobi that they did not already know. In any other situation, he might not have relented so easily. But when it concerned those two teenage warriors, too many things remained in question to be good for any of them, including themselves.

So he told her. And he prayed to whatever deity was listening that Ozpin (and more importantly Glynda) would forgive him.

He did not ask for the two young men to forgive him. He was doing it for their sake, as well as his own. As well as for his young niece still swinging away on the other side of the clearing, blissful in her ignorance of what was transpiring.

He did not have to be watching his sister to know that he would be unable to glean anything from her expressionless face. She listened to his incredible tale in rapt silence, never once interrupting to question or making a sound of disbelief. When he was finished, he did not know what he expected her to do or say. He gave it a 50-50 shot whether she believed him or not, though he told her as much as he knew to the best of his knowledge.

"Interesting."

He faltered at her single-word, yet apt, description. She turned her head to watch the daughter of her best friend go through her paces. Something crossed her face, but Qrow missed it, not daring to turn away from watching Ruby himself. He did not know what should be going through his sister's mind at that moment. He was always so diametrically opposed to her, it was one of the reasons they never got along.

"The energy disappeared by the time I arrived at Beacon." The repeated statement poked a needle-thin hole in the silence. "But then, it came back."

Qrow felt his breath hitch in his throat. This had been one of the things they had been waiting to find out. For all of their expertise and the beneficial mutations developing within the young man, they had yet to find out if the demon he held at bay still existed within the convoluted seal on his stomach.

"But… it still wasn't the same when it came back." The statement was ponderous, thoughtful, as she quietly paced the soft grass behind him. "It was… more familiar." She stopped and shuddered, incapable of doing anything else when remembering the harsh feeling. "Familiar, but similarly dark. I left soon after as the crowds came."

Once again, the information was useful, but still raised so many questioned. He still could not get her to elaborate. Not because she would not, but yet again, could not. Still, it was something. There were only a few dark things in their world strong enough to make that kind of impression, and it was not hard to guess what the nature of it was.

He was about to issue a few words of thanks, unnecessary though they might be, when he was interrupted by his sister's surprise offering.

"Before I left, I made sure to commit the feeling to memory, so I could track it down later."

Well, that wouldn't be too hard, Qrow thought ruefully. They had not made it hard to find the two shinobi as they had not left the company of Glynda, and she had not gone beyond the bounds of the ruins of Beacon since the whole ordeal.

"I followed it here."

He froze, unable to turn around and see if his sister was smiling at him, laughing as she played a cruel joke on his harried mind. He could only stand stock still and stare straight forward. Stare at his niece as she took a knee after finishing the last repetition of her kata, hair matted with sweat framing her confident smile. Stare through her to whatever malicious entity might lay beneath that innocent smile.

In the corner of his eye a raven beat its wings heavily, taking to the sky and escaping the wooden prison which held the two of them captive in silence.

* * *

Emerald paced the long room with a confidence she knew she shouldn't have. Neo was one step away from cowering in the corner, never before having been audience to the infamous ringleader of their covert group. The green-haired woman, now that her hair was cleaned up enough to be recognizable as such a shade, deliberately ignored the room's other occupants who awaited their leader patiently while shooting her un-surreptitious glances which carried no small amount of contempt.

It was clear that the more senior members thought that she had no right to be there, much like they had thought her own mistress had no right to sit at the long table with them. Well, in fact she partially agreed with them, though not for the same reasons. In deference to that thought she had neglected to take a seat in the chair that was by all rights hers now, and instead slowly paced the breadth of the room's wall-sized windows overlooking the mountainous crags below, and chose not to meet their derision head on.

Not yet, at least.

Salem's entrance was graceful and without fanfare, but carried no less gravity than a state funeral. Flanked by two of her 'children', she seemed to glide in through the double doors carved of ebony wood and which weighed as much as the table the other three members gathered around. But their total mass was nothing compared to the weight the woman herself brought with her. The revitalized person Emerald had become strained to shore herself up against the oppressive presence, and not for the first time found her resolve questioned.

But then there was that voice, a combined total of countless points of view speaking in harmony that rallied against the notion. There was no retreat for the survivor.

"Emerald, it is so good to see you again."

To the room's total shock, including her own, Salem made a beeline straight for the young woman. In the corner of her eye, Emerald could see the surprise and outrage which flushed across the other faces like a heat wave. She stalled halfway between a courteous reply and a gulp, settling for a tight-lipped nod to her superior. Anxiousness thrumming her inflamed heartbeat to new levels as she approached the edge.

"Mistress Salem," She finally croaked out, though managing to hide most of the fear behind a veil of confidence that would have fooled most in the room, but sadly not the pale woman in front of her.

"Is there something the matter, child?"

Despite the motherly tone, there was nothing about the cocked head riddled with black spiderwebs that spoke anything of concern. Emerald was in fact surprised that the woman even knew her name after all this time, though assumed she had probably asked one of her aids before her arrival. She had no illusions that she was anything other than a commodity for her machinations. But she could not call her out on it. She wasn't strong enough to stand up to her might. Not yet, at least.

"Are you not fully recovered? Did you not receive good treatment upon arrival?"

Emerald felt her head shake and the jade tresses rustle like leaves along with it.

"No, Mistress. Your servants were most hospitable to me and my companion." She said coolly, nodding in Neo's direction, who was one step away from trying her illusory techniques to disappear from the room.

In truth, Emerald had no idea where this highfalutin language was coming from. Sure, she was dressed for such courtly manner, provided by the woman's unquestioning servants, a dress which matched her newfound radiance and managed to even make her crippling injury into a kind of exotic beauty. But the words came from the same pool of voices as before, and not from the street urchin struggling to untangle them.

She would not deny the words' effectiveness, though. The way the powerful woman looked at her with such morbid intrigue, and the way everyone else looked at her with such rage. Both were merely fueling her own poise.

"I am glad to hear it." The sickly-sweet tone was flavored with lead. "Now, if you are recovered we can begin the meeting. Please, have a seat." She gestured to the waiting chair, once Cinder's, now ostensibly falling to her.

"I am afraid I must decline."

Salem had just turned around to the rest of the table when the words hit her like a slap. They might as well have been, for the punishment would be the same for anyone who defied the mother of Grimm.

"With all due respect," Emerald quickly added after she let the first statement sink in to the minds of the others at the table. "I appreciate the offer, but I'm-"

"It is not an offer." The icy-cold voice of Salem interjected, promising dire consequences if the refusal was forwarded. But Emerald already knew this.

"I appreciate the **offer**." She reiterated, emphasizing the choice she believed she had. "But I do not belong at your table." She was sure the others would agree with her, but Salem would have her way if she truly wanted. "No, rather, I do not want to be at your table."

Her declaration was tantamount to sedition, a capital punishment by anyone's standards. She knew it. The whole room knew it. And contrary to what everyone expected, this seemed to amuse the quasi-omnipotent woman.

"Oh, and why pray tell is that?" She slowly turned around with that same saccharine smile on her face. "You so willingly followed your mistress to whatever ends she desired, and she in turn followed me. Surely there is some **loyalty** that still exists there." She stressed the emotional argument, well aware that there were others in the room to whom this did not apply.

"Or if not loyalty," She mused, pacing back to her chair at the head of the table. The Grimm escorts and the other councilmembers watching her with confusion. "Then perhaps you need to be reminded of the benefits given to those who follow my leadership. And, of course, the detriments of those who do not."

"You need not enumerate them, Mistress." Emerald doled out patiently, perfectly courteous but slightly impatient with the honorific title. "I understand perfectly my position, just as I understand that the situation has changed since my predecessor had this chair." She didn't know when she began thinking of Cinder as her predecessor, though it was an apt description of her former mistress.

After all, she was the one who came before.

"Apparently things have changed." Salem hissed out, clearly upset at what she viewed as insubordination. She was not wrong.

"And I am not Cinder." Emerald stated firmly, putting her foot down, turning her body so her infirmity was less obvious, though no one would let her forget it. "Cinder was privy to what you were doing. I never was. She had ambition within your organization. I…" Could she say that she was without ambition? No, that was not true, never true for any human or Faunus living. She had a different, perhaps greater, and perhaps lesser idea in mind.

"I have no desire to be subordinate to anyone any longer." From underneath the lamplight to underneath Cinder's wing, she had always had something above her keeping her down. It was supposed to be for her protection, but she did not need that any longer. "I have no need to be with you. I am not some weak girl, unworthy of your attention any longer.

"I, am the new Fall Maiden."

The declaration was met with a myriad of reactions, all of them bottled up, kept in check waiting to see how the only one in the room that mattered would lean. Salem had shuffled through degrees of upset, from murderous to curious, all of them reserved behind the mask of ancient wisdom. And now she fell back to an unreadable expression, still water in an open ocean which concealed the leviathan beneath.

Then she smirked.

"I'm impressed. You're a hell of a lot more ballsy than Cinder was." Her gaze was ripe with blood. "Or rather, I would be if I cared. I could end you right now, little girl. You understand that?"

"But you won't."

"Oh, and why not?"

"Because…" She had already swallowed the hemlock by talking back so blatantly, now she had to trust she had the remedy. She trusted the voices inside of her, hundreds of Fall Maidens before her had shaped her, including Cinder's. And while they had not bequeathed their memories, their experience lived on in their souls, in their Aura which now she retained.

"Because if you kill me, then you lose the power of the Fall Maiden."

"And? If I let you do as you please, I will have lost it as well. On the other hand, I could kill you now, and just assume the power for myself."

"But you won't." If her head was going to come off, it would do so in the next few seconds. "Because you can't. Because you can't assume the power of the Seasons."

Opposed to the positively venomous glare being sent her way, Emerald felt relief at the quietly seething witch. It seemed her instinct, backed by intuition was correct.

"And if you kill me," She pressed her advantage, not sure how much of it was her own wit and how much was borrowed. ", you won't get the power. It will want to go to you, but you can't have it. Either you cannot control it, or it might physically harm you to do so." She wasn't sure the specifics, but based on the furious look on Salem's face, she was close to the truth.

"That's why you need someone else close to you to have the power. It's one of the only things that can hurt you."

But Salem had not survived for as long as she had without learning how to play the game. She knew Emerald was dancing dangerously close to the truth but would not reveal that by reacting to her provocations. She might grant the girl her concession, for now. But she couldn't afford to let her be, lest she decide to offer herself to the remainders of Ozpin's little group. She proclaimed her desire to be beholden to no one, but she had already proven that she could not be trusted.

"Hardly," Salem sneered, invoking as much passive malice as she could with that single word. "I require strong people for my plan to work. Cinder was useful because she had ambition. Ambition enough to assassinate the Fall Maiden and take her power, thus actually making herself useful to me. That's all the Maidens are: a quick route to power. And even with that power, you are still just a little girl."

Dark shadows like snakes slithered across the floor in the blink of an eye and wrapped around Emerald before she could do as much as blink. The entire room tensed, including Neo who, despite her better judgment, made to dash at the inky tendrils holding hostage her companion. But a look from the green-haired woman stayed her hand from grasping the curved hilt of her ruined blade.

Even as the midnight coils encircled her neck, Emerald made no move against them. It would be far more telling, far more beneficial to her to see what the older woman would do now.

Salem began talking over her falter, seeing the lack of reaction to her soft attack. But it was mostly bravado.

"You are not strong enough to survive me." She threatened with good reason. "You have no hope to beat me. You have no hope to accomplish anything with your miserable life unless you join with me.

"Probably not," Emerald managed to choke out, even as the inky fingers crept up her jaw. She never took her own crimson gaze from Salem's. It was a risky gamble, but well worth it to be free of this woman's machinations. "Probably don't. But then again, I never wanted much."

"Then just tell me what you want. Name me your price, and if you swear loyalty to me, then you shall have it." She eased on her shadows just enough to allow the girl to breath shallowly.

"You don't have anything I want."

A tornado of fire crackled to life at the tips of her toes, and burned its way up to the whorl of her hair. The shadows encircling her almost seemed to shriek and leap back in surprise and pain from the sudden illumination which tore through them. Emerald dropped to the floor in a crouch and aglow. The molten skin slowly dissipated as she stood up, bleeding out to the left arm now forged entirely from Vulcan's fire, and not anything his hammer could have crafted.

Salem hissed as her tendrils retreated back to their master, but held a hand as her two Grimm had started to creep up on them.

Emerald held herself composed, even as the elation within her rode the thermal current to cloud 9. She was still playing a narrow game, and did not want to make an outright enemy of the woman. As it was, she wanted to disappear, go somewhere where no one would recognize her, where no one would care who she was or where she came from. If Neo wanted to come, so much the better. But she couldn't very well do that if someone was hunting them.

"Mistress-"

"Go." She spat passed the attempt at diplomacy. Turning back to her other, faithful servants who still knew fear, and who were now dreading having to bear the brunt of their mistress's ire.

"Both of you, go. You are wasting my time."

Words of condolence would not help them. In the best curtsy she could manage, which was still a travesty, Emerald bid her ado.

"By your leave."

She held her breath as she had to pass by the woman on her way out, still acutely aware that she could be struck down any moment if she dared so much as drop her guard. Silently she beckoned Neo to follow with a curt nod, her one remaining hand holding up her impractical but elegant dress, glad that she did not have to make her escape in it.

Instead she and her cohort were walking out the front door. Bathed, dressed and fed, and all in all better off from when they had started. A first, in her experience, and something she was not soon to take for granted.

"And lady Salem," She turned and called out, holding the multi-ton door open with one arm. The only answer was the continued glare that had tracked her across the room. She bowed her head, which was only to hide the smirk she could no longer hold.

"Thank you ever so much for your hospitality."

* * *

"Jaune? Hello? Earth to Jaune! What's up dude?"

The younger teen pestered his fellow blond whose normally straw hair had turned deathly pale to match his overall pallor, poking the exposed bits of flesh under his omnipresent armor. Getting no response from the young man who had seized up inexplicably, Naruto huffed and turned back to his other companion, who had observed the two out of the corner of his eyes, but had yet to take them off their new sword instructor.

"You know man, it's kind of rude not to greet someone you just met. Especially when they came just for us. It's not very ho- uh, hosital? No, that's not it. Hospital? Nah! That's not it either. Hmmm…."

He chewed on his thumb while the adults present laughed silently at the anguish they were very knowingly causing the young man.

"I believe the word you are looking for, young man, is 'hospitable'."

The suggestion was offered with a knowing smile from the woman standing next to Glynda. The amused expression she wore belied her stern features, tense smile accentuating modest wrinkles that fought against taught, sun-weathered skin.

"Yup! That's it! Thanks Ms.-um, actually I don't think we were introduced yet."

Naruto's smile snapped in time with his fingers as he whirled about to face the two adults, oblivious to the tension expressed by two out of three potential students. Sasuke stood quietly to the side, trusting of their headmistress in her choice, but wary of the graying blonde woman by her side.

Beneath the polite words and soft tone, there lay a dangerous twinkle in her eyes. Pale blue eyes like a sniper's glass scoping them out since before they even knew she was there.

"True, while I have not yet been introduced to you, Jaune should at least know who I am." Her smile cocked a margin more as she bore down on the still, near-catatonic teen. "Even though he was just a babe when last I saw him."

"Aunt Aurelia…." The name slipped lucidly from his tongue as his muscles spasmed, half in shudder half in some kind of belated genuflect that ended up with him nearly collapsing on the ground in search of his breath. Naruto saw him begin to keel over though and caught him under his arm before he hit the ground, perplexed at the taller blond's reaction to his kin.

Oh if he only knew! If only Jaune could muster the strength to warn his comrade in arms just what kind of woman his great-aunt was! If this was indeed the sword tutor promised by their instructor and headmistress, what kind of hellish regime they were likely to expect under the guidance of a woman who had long ago estranged herself from the social circles of the Arc family in favor of braving the wilderness of Atlas's Northern Aliet Island chain. Someone who was more at home riding bareback underneath the starry skies of a land which never saw sun.

If only…

"Well, as my eloquent nephew says, my name is Aurelia Arc, and I am Jaune's great-aunt something, something thrice-removed…" She abbreviated whatever extraneous suffixes might have come after that with a careless wave of her calloused hand. It was far simpler to call her a legend within the Arc family. Though her father was of the main family, her mother had been a huntswoman from one of the tribes of roaming nomads that had become scarce to the point of myth in recent years, drawing their stock from the same cask as the infamous Branwens and no less docile for the component of Arc blood she had received. Or so the stories said.

"Anyway, Glynda has informed me of who you two are," She met eyes with Sasuke who was surprised to feel a bead of sweat run down the rut of his temple. "…as well as **what** you are."

Naruto remained all but cluelessly supporting the younger Arc. Not to say that he wasn't aware of dangerous the new woman in front of him could be. His animalistic recognized her prowess, but at the same time acknowledged her benevolent presence, identifying her a pack leader in his more reptilian brain. The human part of him recognized this merely as a strong attraction of character, his judgment being one of the many parts of his personality which survived the transition.

He found himself excited at the prospect of a true challenge, and that superseded everything else.

"Aurelia has kindly agreed to be your tutor in sword forms." Glynda broke her own silence, minute revenge being extracted from the younger Arc at last, and also quietly reveling in the apparent victory of having one more female present in their little study sessions.

"She is an acclaimed expert in many Western as well as Eastern forms, and far more adept at I in offensive techniques and weapons training." The curved sword whose origins were obscured by a heavy leather sheath hung from her hip as naturally as a cat's tail and spoke in and of itself. "Although she will be training all of you, I will not deny that she is going to focus on training Sasuke to a higher degree of proficiency, considering we are limited in teaching him anything else."

The aforementioned two had themselves a miniature staring contest with Aurelia matching Sasuke's tension with a half-lidded relaxation, one hand propped on her hip with the one closest to the weapon hanging loose. Though starting opposed, with about as much give in his stance as a sail's rigging, Sasuke soon relaxed and mirrored the woman's smirk.

Naruto and Glynda both relaxed as well seeing the sudden diffusion and apparent acceptance between master and apprentice. The latter had held a sneaking suspicion that this would be the case, but knew better than to assume anything given these two-now three unpredictable people.

The thoughts of the two younger teens for once found themselves in sink, both eagerly awaiting what new adventure this latest addition would bring them. It was yet another unmapped territory which held untold riches. Though the mysterious and savage looking woman might not be the Eldorado they were looking for, she would provide them with an opportunity of experience which was as valuable as the real thing.

Jaune was of conflicted thought within his mental-shutdown. Once again he was assured of a high-class training regime which he probably did not deserve. He would no doubt look back on the event as another unexpected turning point in his life. But in the meantime, he did know to expect a hell several magnitudes worse than his apprenticeship under the two shinobi. He tried to take solace in the fact that his education would come from within the family, but somehow that thought was not providing him with much comfort just right then.

"Alright, shall we get started then?"

* * *

"Alright, Ruby, let's call it quits for today."

Qrow lazily approached his bent-double niece whose legs had long since failed her and was supported solely by the stalwart shaft of her scythe planted firmly into the grassy soil. Her slow, heavy breaths shrouded by sweat-soaked hair which clung to her face. Her stained and scraped knees shivered minutely under his approaching gaze.

"Ruby?"

He asked concernedly, not receiving a response from the tired teen. He lowered his gaze to look her in the face, and could not help but sigh as he realized that she had passed out on her feet.

"Silly kid."

"Stupid human."

Ruby could hear her uncle's voice somewhere far away. But it's diffuse echo rambled through the damp passageways she trotted through without an origin, and every time she made her way toward it, it became farther away.

"Hello?" She called out, her own voice falling dull on the earthen walls. "Uncle Qrow?"

But she was alone, a dull crimson emanating from jutting polyhedral crystals her only company in the dank darkness. The smell of moist soil which should have been a comfort was too cold with her summer wear, and spoiled even then by the lingering smell of sulfur. Gone was the salad days of summer, of cut grass and pink lemonade, and it was now the winter of discontent.

"Hello?"

"Stupid human."

Her echo came back foreign and jagged, laughing at her confusion and drawing her towards its reflection. She followed it nonetheless, down the rabbit hole.

The passageway became smaller and smaller as she went on, glowing crystals encroaching on her and clawing at her simple training attire, easily shredding through the lightweight cotton and onto flesh underneath. But what pain she could feel she ignored. What unease pressed upon her she eschewed, even as she went from crawling on her knees to squirming her way through the encroaching tunnel. Blood mixed with the earthen walls and stained her white tank-top in a battle-hardened tie-dye.

She was birthed from her earthen womb into a chamber. Or was it the other way around? This seemed to be the breeding ground for those luminescent crystals, long shafts of glowing rock piercing through ceilings, walls and floors indiscriminately and mingling with clusters forming a jagged carpet. And the energy which pervaded the hollow left no doubt that this was her intended destination.

"Ah… I remember this one… the little fool…"

The shadows cast by the light winked at her, laughing as the voice which echoed in the chamber did so now in her mind. The blackness shifted and squirmed as she spun around, looking for the voice's origin.

"Who are you?"

She questioned the darkness, fear being easy to disguise because strangely enough there was none. Though the feeling which saturated the air in the room was nothing short of pure malice, it was familiar, like it was her own righteous anger addressing her.

"Who am I? Hmm… I can't seem to remember. But…" The voice paced throughout the room, settling on her shoulder. "…I remember you."

She shivered in the cold and recoiled from the burn which settled on her bare shoulder. She spun around to confront the voice, unconcerned of her naked and disheveled state. What shame was there between her and herself?

"Who are you?"

She demanded now, silver eyes stabbing the illusory body of shadows, trying to pin it down to the crystalline walls. The shadows swirled as if avoiding her gaze, but congealed onto the floor at her feet, squirming unconsolidated towards her ratty sneakers. She began by taking a step back as it approached but stopped, and as it drew nearer, it began to take shape.

The living blackness pillowed in front of her, burbling and squirming as it rearranged its insubstantial mass, searching for a form that felt familiar to itself.

"Who am I? I remember many things… not all of them mine… but a name is not among them."

Tendrils of shadows still writhed like a tangle of snakes, but slowly began to consolidate down to a quantifiable number. The amorphous lump began to be recognizable as a body, a form familiar to many on their earth. Unorganized splotches made by the blood-red stones in their diffuse light gained depth as they now took what looked like steps towards her.

She wanted to shy away from the nightmarish scene, but even if she could move her back would soon be pressed up against the cavern walls. As it was, she stood transfixed as the shadow beast lumbered towards her. It was about waist-height when eyes bloodier than the crystals which surrounded them cracked open and stared out at her.

"I remember you…. Do you remember me?"

She felt the emptiness behind those eyes, a chalice waiting desperately to be filled. She felt the same hollowness in her gut as sure as she felt her beating heart in her throat.

"Can you name me?"

It asked her as innocently as a child. But it was not a child looking for an identity. It was sword looking for its purpose.

"Kyuubi."

The Cheshire smile grinned out at her menacingly.

"That's right."

* * *

 **Okay, so there were actually some major changes instilled in this chapter. Don't like them? Tough. This story from the outset was written by me to satisfy my understanding of what a meeting of the two worlds would look like. If I fall into tropes, it's because I believe that they, while correct, are not written well by anyone thus far. But mainly I wanted to do my own thing.**

 **Generally speaking as well, I don't like to use OC's, but found little alternative given what was happening. In other words, the story would have been a lot more boring had I done it another way. Aurelia means 'golden' in several languages, and her character is inspired by the Finish and Hungarian cultures, if any out there are unsure of what I'm going for. While geographically far away in our world, the two are the only members of the Finno-Ugric language group (though even then, they are not all that similar), so I decided to have some fun with that, and she will most likely continue through the story illustrating some traits from both Suomi and Tartar traditions.**


	5. My Companjera

**I'm baaaaaaack.**

 **Not much to say apart from my sincere thanks for all those who reviewed and continue to support me. You guys are awesome. As thanks, have a chapter. Go on, you deserve it.**

* * *

"Why did you choose to come with me?"

The mute girl stared expressionlessly at the inquiry by her companion. She was not sure what to make of it. That question, part of it was the too often betrayed pickpocket, longing for assurance, and part of it was the master, seeking to assert loyalty. Both were equal in the girl's mismatched eyes. Either way, her response was the same.

Neo shrugged and stared ahead across the choppy waves, the charcoal skies still issuing a dying howl which lingered after the storm.

Emerald smiled at the predictable answer, the only answer she should have expected.

"That's what I like about you, Neo. You are a constant. A rock in this world of change."

The burgeoning smile on the smaller woman's face flickered away as Emerald's single hand ruffled her hair like a child.

"Still…"

The verdette too gazed off into the cloudy horizon, wistful expression poisoned by the myriad of plots and schemes running around unchecked inside of her head. Disappearing had been her goal, but not her end. She could no more slink away into the sunset than the sun itself could cease to descend. She was branded, one of the new focal points which the changing world would fluctuate around. She had no time for idle fancies and desires.

"I am glad you decided to join me."

She wasn't her master, but her shadow was inescapable. She longed to be neutral, but could do no better than random chaos. She longed to be free, but knew she was caught up in the approaching storm.

Far off in the distance the smoky clouds parted and the prow of the ship nudged into calmer water with the promise of a sun once again shining upon them.

* * *

The chamber felt deep, so far down that the sun would become a distant memory and the shadows truer than the objects they decried. But with that instance of recognition in the shadow's face, the utterance of a single name, Ruby knew just where she was. But still not the why.

Beginning and end to her journey down the rabbit hole were bookends to the surreal meeting, shouting at her with their absence. But this was no dream where one could not remember falling asleep. This was no nightmare where she would wake up before hitting rock bottom. This was the reality of the monster inside her head.

" _Kyuubi…. yes, yes, that seems familiar."_ It tested the way the name rolled off its non-existent tongue.

As the amorphous beast contemplated the label, its form became more defined. Soon it very much resembled its title and the familiar visage of a nine-tailed fox crowded the small room. Ruby found herself backed against the wall, equally astounded by the revelation of what she was looking at.

" _Yes….and no."_

The claw, now clearly delineated stopped its gentle tapping on the side of what became the beast's face as the glowing eyes screwed up in ponderous thought.

" _Kyuubi is right. This form is right. But it feels… lacking."_

The beast seemed to ignore her as it started to pace up and down the small swath of the room, sometimes on two legs, sometimes four.

" _Yes, and no. Yes and no. So right and yet so wrong. I am it, it is me, but we are more, we are less…"_

It muttered to itself as Ruby shook herself out of her stupor and stood proud to accost the rambling specter.

"Hey, you!"

She had questions. Questions that she now feared would never get answered with the shadow fox pontificating off in its own little world. She worried that it might not even know the answers itself, and she might never know how or why they came to be there in that strange place together. But another fear soon overcame these less immediate concerns when the beast stopped and swiveled its hungry gaze at her wounded frame.

" _And you…. yes, I remember you."_

Before she could even blink the creature crossed the distance between them and placed its clawed hand on her muddied face, pointed finger tracing the line of her jaw.

" _Ruby Rose…. why do I know that name? I know you. Better even than I seem to know myself."_

It grinned wide and a colorless void greeted her from behind the seamless wall of teeth like a zipper.

" _Then again, it is easy to know the mind of a fool."_

The anger she felt rising in her chest, the caustic bile that should have given her strength to fend off her captor was sapped off as quickly as she could produce it and she was left feeling hopeless at her pitiful state. Cut, bruised and weary, even before she had entered this mysterious catacomb, she held little hope of being able to make it out intact.

But then what was all that training for? What was her whole life for? What was any of it for if she did not resist to the last? She had given up everything that made her who she was, in favor of honing her huntress skills to protect those in need. She had already resigned to give up her identity for her friends. Her life was theirs, and she could not let this phantom rob them of that gift.

" _No, don't stop struggling human. Let me feel that anger from you. The hatred you exude is sweet like strawberries…"_

"No." Ruby breathed out.

She stared down the beast even as it held her aloft and pinned against the torturous crystal protrusions on the wall. Her silver-gray eyes now shone with an adamantine luster that reminded the broken creature of its own imperfections.

It growled and recoiled its hand, dropping the girl to land on her knees on the muddy ground. It had been quick to react, but the silver glow which dimly emanated from her pale skin had already boiled away a portion of the shadows which made up its digits. The dull silver candlelight which haloed her, grew in intensity as she found her feet again. It drowned out the faux sunset from the crystals and pierced the shadows around her in pure white light.

The not-Kyuubi fled the light's radius and scrambled to get back into the spoiled glow of the crimson rocks, seeking to bury itself into nooks and crannies many times smaller than what it could fit into with its more solid form.

Ruby took a step towards the cowering beast and it looked up at her with a fear in its eyes that caused her to falter in her resolve. Even in the presence of this monster, this shadow which harkened so much to those detestable Grimm and of course to its predecessor, it was impossible not to think of everything it signified, of the other half which made the beast whole in their world.

In the instant she met its eye she envisioned Naruto at his lowest. The moment he realized that all was not well in his world, when everything he knew was revealed to be a sophistry. The look of helplessness and loss was the same worn by this creature now. And though she had every right to detest its existence, she could not do so without condemning the life of the boy who had delivered them all from destruction. One of the people she had promised to give her life for.

The glow flickered and died, and the crimson light swallowed the two of them once again. Ruby drew a breath as the last of the light retreated within her and experienced the lofty feeling withdrawal to wherever it came from.

But the crystalline light remained less harsh. The shadows, less sinister, and even the foxlike creature seemed to know it had lost their first skirmish. Ruby glanced down at her body to see that the glow had restored her alabaster skin and scoured away the mud that had painted her. She looked at her hands as if in them there was a pool in which she could see her reflection, and made the connection for the first time that this was not her earth-bound body, and that this chamber was a prison for only one of them.

So many questions remained though. Questions which she knew would be hard earned, the answers heavy to bear, and the consequences even harder to carry down the road.

The Kyuubi began to laugh softly as it saw Ruby locked up in her own thought. The throaty snicker was partly maniacal and reminiscent of one of its brethren it no longer remembered. Ruby glanced up from her palms to stare disapprovingly at the fox.

" _Brave girl…O brave girl! Well done indeed. You have great restraint of your emotions, however…"_ It pointed a restored dagger-like claw at her feet, which had sunk deep into the muddy ground. _"Purity never lasts, does it?"_ It broke into full blown, hearty laughter at its little joke. _"No matter how hard you try to take the high road, you will always dirty yourself despite your good intentions!"_

The young woman listened to its self-indulgent chortle with patience grown from repetitions of her own failures, and waited for it to die down. She watched it silently at first, but after a while could not hold her own titters at bay.

Beneath its self-entrapment the fox took notice, and became confused and indignant.

" _You dare laugh at me, human?"_

"Yup!" She replied between giggles. "You're just like a little child!"

While it stared at her aghast, Ruby plopped herself down onto the filthy floor to sit cross-legged and patted the ground in front of her, beckoning the beast to come and join her in conference. It stared incredulously at the brave and audacious gesture, not quite sure what to make of this apparently fearless girl.

"Come one Kyu," Ruby called to it across the chamber. "I'll show you I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty, if it means getting things done."

It eyed her carefully for a while before it dared approach, unbelievably shy of this little girl as if she were the Grim Reaper itself, constantly afraid that she might at any moment pull the iconic scythe from behind her back. It sat down awkwardly, at first trying to mimic her posture before it settled on its haunches.

It questioned its own trepidation. Why should he be so cautious around something he could squash like an insect? The power she demonstrated previously said otherwise, though. These humans were so predictable, yet so full of surprises. It knew instinctively that its own success lay in being able to exploit those dark emotions which kept it company like a nightlight deep in that chamber buried in the heart and mind.

It had been caught off guard, but would be more subtle and deliberate next time around. It had time. It now had a small piece of what it once was. Every passing moment uncovered more and more of its fragmented ego, innate cunning and unerring desire. It need only restore its stock of omnipotent knowledge. It would rise to the surface again, soon enough.

"Come on, hurry up, you dumb fox."

Said fox growled at the address, but restrained any threatening moves against the girl, not one to be burned twice so easily.

"It's time to get dirty. We both want answers, and neither of us are leaving until we get them."

The fox still had much to learn about itself. For the new form it had gained, it had lost many of its experiences. But even still, after talking for what seemed like days with the innocuous young woman with the red-tipped hair, it was willing to bet that it had never met a more irritating human.

Sadly, in the second chance it had been given, that bet still would have been lost.

* * *

Jaune lay still on the dusty floor of the now open-topped classroom, watching the clouds go by with a detached interest. He longed to float along in life like those aery pillows, but instead his body felt heavy, too much like the stone upon which he reposed. He was tired. He was dirty. He could probably use a shower, but lacked the energy to even get up.

"Come on you limp green-bean! Get your ass off the ground this instant!"

For the bitter course of words hurled at him, Jaune sighed but one wafer-thin utterance.

"Troublesome."

Ignorant of the spirit he channeled, the irony of a shadow descended upon him and he was quickly forced to scramble to his feet to dodge the multi-ton stone which smashed into his previous location.

"Aurelia, as much as I appreciate you taking your duty so seriously, I do wish you would refrain from any excessive damage of my classroom."

Disbelief fluttered like the many eyelids around the room, twitching uncontrollably for different reasons. Glynda was naturally upset once again seeing her work reduced to nothing but fragmented slivers and dust. Naruto and Jaune were nonplussed at the sudden show of strength from the woman who had until that point not raised a hand in her own defense. And Sasuke was incredulously tallying the odds that every blonde woman he would ever meet possessing herculean strength and spitfire temper.

The two ex-shinobi were quick enough to recover, however, being somewhat more accustomed than most to such a display. Now assuming they knew the extent of their teacher's semblance, they eagerly entered the fray once again, armed with a strategy and teamwork rehabilitated through much arduous effort on both their parts.

An outside observer would be hard pressed to even tell that they had been apart. They had no need to look at one another as they wove separate but intertwined paths towards the stock-still woman with her arms crossed. She was not an average observer, however. The smallest twitch of her eye, the recognition of carefully disguised patterns, a plan amidst the seemingly random advances.

Naruto reached the swordswoman first, his semblance used to accelerate the laminar flows over his body and propelling himself like a bird in flight. He descended on her with twin puukkoes, blades insisted upon him by his teacher for their practicality and lethality. In his flighty hands they certainly were, but they were all bark and no bite as they whistled all around the woman in tight arcs, never tasting flesh.

Naruto appeared to be resisting frustration, up and until the point the woman's arms unfolded and she slapped one of the knives out of his extended hands. She caught his next attempt at a stab to his genuine surprise. But even as he twisted his wrist and leaned back to disengage, he found himself pinned to the floor by a pointed heel digging into his bare feet.

The knee that shot up into his gut passed straight through however, as he activated his semblance and flowed around the strike in his vaporous form. Coalescing on the other side of his opponent, he beat a quick retreat as Sasuke interrupted their dance by a quick series of slashes with his curved blade, a copy of the one the woman wore still shrouded on her hip.

She dodged each blow without visible effort, including the one Jaune hoped to surprise her with by attacking her blind side. With barely a flinch she tripped him up and sent him tumbling in to Sasuke who had circled around. The raven-haired boy leapt over the sprawling teen easily enough, and once again occupied the swordswoman's attention with a practiced series of slashes, hindered ever so slightly by the unfamiliar balance of the foreign blade.

Imperceptible to most, those minute hesitations were like semaphore to the experienced woman. Time and again she bested his efforts with skill and timing which outmatched his superior speed. He fought against the incensed voice inside which urged the use of his Sharingan to level the playing field. If he could not best her with the means available, he did not deserve to even suffer the ill effects of his Doujutsu.

The blade howled as it came down in an unavoidable strike, only to be caught bare-handed by the unflinching woman. Pausing momentarily in shock, sensing no Aura to dampen the blow, Sasuke had no defense when the blade was ripped out of his hand and he was socked heavily in the face.

As he fell, so too did his blond comrade descend from the heavens to pounce on the overextended profile of their teacher, his dual blades poised in reverse grip like the fangs of a viper, with a bite that was just as swift.

So swift that he could not dodge when she slung the captured blade at him. Though it passed through harmlessly, not a twinge of shock shone on her face.

"You rely too much on your ability."

She uttered the clinical assessment in a level tone, never once raising her voice nor her hand as she awaited his impending blow. Suddenly in his untouchable state, Naruto felt himself halt midair, involuntarily suspended away from his target.

"What the-?"

"You may not be susceptible to most physical attacks in that state. However, by bartering away your corporeal form, you lose what benefits it provides you."

He then felt himself not only halted, but being pushed back as a foreign breeze kicked up around him. Her lips pursed as if blowing him a kiss, he could see the manipulated wisps of Aura as the stream tore into him, blowing his individual particles back against the wall. He struggled to maintain some impression of cohesion, and not be scattered to the four corners of the room.

"-like mass. Now, you are nothing more than a sheet on the wind."

Though he had reacted quickly after being halted and canceled his ability, Naruto still felt himself being hurled with his restored weight and retained trajectory away from the ring. Upside down in his gaze though, he saw his so-called friend raise himself to his feet and send him a subtle signal.

Despite the situation, Naruto smiled as he was flung in the other teen's direction. He caught the extended arm offered to him and felt himself be whipped around in a tight arc. Sasuke's foot planted to the ground with chakra and his throw augmented by the same medium, Naruto was sent back flying at the woman with even greater velocity and an even greater drive to best the so far undefeated warrior.

He swore he saw her nod of approval before her fist impacted his face.

Though he didn't realize it amidst the dizzying number of stars which swam across his vision, Naruto's landing was softened by Jaune who half-intentionally intercepted the shorter blond. The three of them ended up in mostly the same pile, and in mostly the same state of exhaustion and injury.

"Okay, I think it's probably time for a break."

"No."

Glynda blinked as her attempt to referee the highly intensified 'spar' was rebutted so casually. Not used to being talked back to, her mouth hung ajar as she faced the impassive back of the wild woman.

"Life will not give them a chance to recuperate. You asked me here to test, and if I deem them worthy, to train them. So far I have seen the potential in all of them, but potential alone will not help them survive my training. I need to see what they do when they are pushed to their limits, what they can accomplish when faced with a superior opponent."

Though they were all begrudged to admit it, she was not wrong. They themselves had yet to pull out all the stops, but she had yet to even pull out her sword. They had seen her demonstrate extreme bursts of speed, strength, and Aura manipulation unlike they had ever seen. And, as was clear to the two younger males, they had yet to even glean her true semblance from any of her actions. Now without means of long-range attack, and with one of their members without a weapon at all, how were they to best this untested foe?

"If you want to survive…" She called to them as if reading their thoughts. "you best come at me with everything you have left. If you want to have a hope of winning, attack me as if you mean to kill me."

Sasuke wondered if irony was the only universal governing force in their lives, or if it was inevitable that in every world imaginable, life was truly so starkly harsh and brutish. Still, the morbid nostalgia brought a soft smirk to his face that was noticed by his teammates, who took heart in seeing what amounted, in their eyes, to a sliver of confidence.

To his left, it was surprisingly Jaune who rallied first to the silent battle cry. It was perhaps ironic, but seeing the two young men he considered his superiors be so easily bested, he found the playing field leveled in his favor. They were all now equal in insignificance. Members of a team that required each of their participation in order to succeed.

There was nothing to be gained by not trying, in any case.

"Sasuke!"

He needn't have shouted for the raven-haired teen had already moved to intercept the handoff. Sasuke snatched Crocea Mors from the air before seamlessly launching a fireball in the direction of their teacher. The wrecking ball-sized blast was casually avoided with a sidestep which put the woman in the path of Naruto who emerged from the side.

Necessity of blade length had him a short distance from her, but still he maintained a larger orbit than before so as not to fall into her vice-like grasp. Of course, his short strikes would have no chance of landing on anything vital. But that was not their point. She recognized the signs of being lead, and allowed her potential students to herd her where they wanted.

Sure enough, Sasuke soon reengaged her with the added length of Jaune's sword, the familiar shape and heft doing wonders for his form, but still seemingly not enough to land a solid strike.

"You'll have to become comfortable using any blade, any time."

She chastised him amidst narrow dodges from both sides of the coordinated strikes. She finally had to uncross her arms and apply a thin coat of Aura to slap the blades away. Still though, there were holes in Sasuke's self-taught form that were glaring to the expert if not to the novice, and she aimed to remind him of their difference in skill.

Stepping back to dodge a downward diagonal slash from the young man put her back foot right where she wanted it. She toed the blade previously taken from Sasuke back into her hand and lashed out at him before he could redirect his broadsword's weight back on target. Shock was on his face at her sudden offensive maneuver, but he could do nothing about the impending blow.

Thankfully, he had never intended to do so. He let the bearer of the shield take the death blow instead. The curved blade skittered across Jaune's shield as he interjected himself between the two. Sasuke rode the flow of his borrowed blade and spun back to back with his comrade as the older boy passed through, and emerged from the other side to strike unexpectedly at the blindsided woman.

The spark as the blades clashed shone in her eyes at the renewed vigor in the attacks. These would be the ones to inherit the earth when her generation was gone.

She prepared to engage in swordplay with the young man, but had to change her plans as Naruto bit at her backside. Both stab and slice were denied by the sword block along her spine. She swept her left foot in an outward arc as she descended on the blond with a horizontal slash. He ducked this and struck out at her legs but was again stymied by her knocking his blades away.

Sasuke took his turn as her blade was far away from him. But it wasn't far enough to prevent her from lashing out at him by stabbing at him from under her arm. He avoided the danger of being disemboweled by a following slash as he retreated gut-first. His head lagged behind as a plump target however. But before it could be plucked from his shoulders, an impenetrable wall of steel reached out to deflect the blow once again.

And as Sasuke charged back in under Jaune's outstretched arm, the taller blond himself thrust the point of his shield at their opponent. Blocking both by placing the blade in an overturned vertical block, she kicked and leapt back simultaneously. Immediately afterwards Naruto thrust himself back in once again, wedging himself and his knives into the close quarters combat.

The frustration at being continually harried was not present on the woman's impeccably stoic face. They would have expected nothing less from someone who was supposed to be their combat instructor. But underneath that carved mask, she began to grow wary as Naruto pressed his attack and pressed her back with its sheer intensity. Would she be forced to resort to her semblance now after all?

The smirk on the blond Faunus's face seemed to think so. Even she missed a beat as he instantaneously halted his attack right in front of her, leaving his self-assured smile as his only weapon. The toothy grin rippled and shattered as the tip of a blade emerged from his face.

Aurelia felt the tip of Crocea Mors grace her chiseled nose as the blade passed through the illusory blond, and she whipped her head to the side just in time to avoid a death blow. She saw the polished double edge wink, the opalized glint in Sasuke's eyes, but not the shield which was slid tactfully under her legs.

She let herself be tripped and then rolled away from the stab that might have pinned her to the smooth tile floor. As she flipped back onto her feet, she was greeted with a glimpse of déjà vu: a fireball launched near point blank at her. As she prepared to dodge the relatively slow lob, she spied an odd sight in the peripheries of her vision.

Haloed around the flaming tendrils of the attack were the diffuse colors of the aery Faunus. Naruto was superimposed behind, massive but without density to support him in his diffused state, he might as well have been a hologram for all that it was worth. That was, until Jaune channeled a portion of his own Aura into the scattered particles that were his fellow blond.

The pale colors that represented skin and flesh crystalized, and suddenly the sheet-thin Naruto was as substantial as a sail, still being hurtled forward as fast as he was before.

The result was a volume of entrapped air the size of a swimming pool being bellowed behind the oncoming ball of flame. Aurelia felt her eyes widen at the sudden and admittedly unexpected turn of fortunes as her hopes were unusually answered.

She would wonder just who authored this plan, or if it was just an organic development between the three of them, given life in the spur of the moment. But first, she would need to escape the conflagration encroaching on her.

Naruto landed next to Sasuke supporting himself on one knee, himself apparently no worse for the wear from whatever combination of Semblances they had used in their ad hoc plan. He offered the Uchiha a hand, and in turn, once he was on his feet Sasuke offered Crocea Mors back to its owner.

"Do you really think we did it?" Jaune asked the two skeptically, unsure if he should be taking his weapon back so soon.

"That's a good question."

The voice from across the burning room set them at immediate attention and they dropped back into fighting stances as the vagrant huntswoman stepped out from the smoke, brushing a stray bit of ash from her linen tunic. She held a hand up as the three students lurched forward, halting them immediately.

"I think that's enough. You have proved yourselves capable of learning. And that is the only thing that matters."

Still unsure of the woman's unfamiliar form of speech, the three looked between her and themselves before re-sheathing their respective weapons. Their apparent teacher tossed the curved blade she had loaned out to Sasuke back to the young man who caught the bare blade by its polished wood-burl handle. She then turned to her distant relative who looked less than convinced.

"Yes, even you Jaune. You all did a fine job."

It was hard to tell if she meant these words of praise honestly, her tone still as even and gravelly as it always had been. Still, the young man felt his face flush at the acknowledgment from one of his family's most revered members.

"Don't you dare get complacent, though. You, Sasuke." The teen squared his shoulders as she addressed him. "Glynda described you as a genius in combat. I can see why." Continuing on the theme of mismatched words and face, she frowned at this positive assessment. "It's too bad really, I know that I would probably be the best teacher for you, allowing you to reap from my years of experience would give you countless weapons at your disposal. But I'm afraid I must confess an affinity for your friend."

It was still somewhat difficult for the blond to recognize the phrase when applied to himself and Sasuke. And it was even more abstract when combined with Aurelia proclaiming her preference for him.

"Huh? Me?"

"You, boy, Naruto." She turned to him as he cocked his head and twitched his ears in a way she recognized from her years spent in the company of the forest. "I don't need to know who you are to know that you are more like me than the other two. You have a desire, a need to be free. You trust your instincts far more than what is perhaps prudent, and you have an insurmountable will to not only survive, but overcome. You have all the rough-hewn tools and the desire to use them. The only thing you lack now is experience."

The young man blinked at the enumerated traits ascribed to him, unable to deny what she had said but also unable to reconcile the similarities that he supposedly shared with this stern and barbaric nomad. Finally, though, he shook his head and the woman cocked a single scraggly eyebrow.

"That may be true, but I don't think that you and I are that alike."

"Oh?"

He nodded in that naively solemn way that made it impossible to not take his words seriously.

"Everything you say is true. I could feel when we fought that we have similar beliefs when it comes to combat. However, from what I have heard about you from Jaune, you live alone. You **like** living alone up there in the wilderness." He shook his head again, this time with a smile on his face. "I belong here. I need my friends who are like family, and they need me, I could never abandon them."

She only smiled softly to his words, though beyond that, none present could fathom what was going on in that stone-walled head of hers. And they didn't have long to analyze it either, for it was soon washed away by the floodplain of the de-rigueur stoicism.

"In any case, I will still be able to teach you a thing or two, though I will focus mainly on passing on my sword skills to your teammate and my nephew."

"Me?"

Her snort was very un-lady like, much like everything else about the woman who looked about as tough as the horses she probably rode.

"Yes, you, dear Jaune. I hope you're ready, too, because I guarantee you that my tutelage will be twice as hard as anything you've had to do until now."

Glynda watched Jaune hold in a wail with an amused smile. She watched the three students take the news from her place on the sidelines with a palette of emotions splattered across her canvas. She knew that the prodigal Arc woman was the most appropriate choice to give the three of them a fighting chance in their messed-up situation.

Still, she cast a forlorn glance at the only non-blond amongst them with a none-too-small feeling of regret. In all likelihood they would be seeing much less of the young man.

And oddly, selfishly, she could not focus her sympathy with the young man who so obviously deserved it. Naruto and Sasuke's relationship was likely to be strained once again, and so soon after being repaired it might not bear another period of reconciliation. But she couldn't think about it like that. She could only think of herself, and the feeling that she was losing another child, not merely a student. Guilt was a phobia, irrational in its assignment, and she could do nothing about it.

"They grow up so fast, don't they?"

Her scowl deepened at the man's words, though she noted they were spoken without irony.

"What do you want, Qrow?"

The man stepped out of the shadows where he was lingering and stood next to the headmistress, both still outside of the attention of the others in the arena below. "And furthermore, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in Patch or somewhere where you can be useful?"

He took the spiteful words unflinchingly, letting them roll off his caped shoulders like water off a duck's back. She noted his silence, and how his focus seemed directed at the blond Faunus in the middle of the floor, excitedly celebrating their victory with the less enthusiastic Jaune in tow as he traipsed gaily around the room.

"Trust me, I don't like being here more than you want me to be. But I thought it fair you should hear what I have to say."

Glynda cast a sidelong glance at Ozpin's former raven, wondering if he was still serving in this capacity for her now. Wondering if it was intelligence that he brought, and if so, how long they had left to prepare. It was good that Aurelia had arrived when she had, if worse came to worse, she would send the three of them up with her to the wild North.

"It's more a personal matter than business." He answered the unasked question seeing her eyes flick through the numerous possibilities.

While it was his truth, he didn't think it entirely right to claim that it had nothing to do with their tactical situation. His concern was with his niece, but how did he go about explaining that the demon fox was no long in its original container?

How could he tell the woman, never mind the boy, that the Kyuubi was sealed within Ruby?

It didn't even make sense to him. He had seen the reworked seal on Naruto's stomach. Had he not seen the reciprocal on Ruby's he might not even believe it himself. It was so improbable that they hadn't noticed it before, but there it was. It was only a faint discoloration on her pale skin, for now, and easy to overlook if one wasn't expecting it. People always saw what they wanted to, he guessed.

He had no choice, so he told her. He expected her to deny it, expected her to yell at him, hit him, laugh in his face. But she did none of this, and that made him far more nervous.

"I'm sorry."

His shoulders slumped in defeat. He had been prepared for the worst, steeled against the most violent reactions she might throw at him but he was not ready to bear the acceptance that he himself still could not achieve.

"I'm sorry." She muttered again, hoping that he didn't notice the sole tear running down her cheek. "I'm sorry for Ms. Rose-Ruby. I'm sorry for those two boys, both whom must shoulder this burden as well. I'm sorry for us, for not knowing what the right thing is to do. Hell, I'm even sorry for the fox itself, for having to put up with this unknown torment." She laughed at the absurdity of her statement, but did not take it back or refute it.

"I just-I just can't help but feel that if none of this had happened, if they had never made it here, if Ozpin had never taken them in, if we had somehow done something differently then everything would have turned out for the better. Everything would have been alright for everyone and we wouldn't have to suffer the way we do now."

"You're probably right." Qrow admitted with a sigh. "We would suffer, just in a different way. Maybe less, maybe more. And hell, maybe things weren't supposed to go this way at all. Maybe this is just some completely fucked up dream that has no bearing on reality. But, at the moment, we are stuck with what we have and where we are."

His duty done, and with no more strength to bear any more words between them, Qrow turned to leave. It was a long flight back to Patch. But he was stopped by Glynda's voice like a tuning fork which resonated through his bones.

"And I'm sorry, but despite all that, even if this is all wrong and never supposed to be, I don't think I'd want it any other way."

* * *

She stood admiring her slender form in the full-size bedroom mirror. Trying to, at any rate. She tried to focus on all of the subtle changes her body had been experiencing over the course of the last year, and especially in the last week or so as she renewed training with her uncle. She noticed the way her muscles now ghosted taught under her skin. Skin which was also not so pale as it once was. She attempted to take pride in the way in her body moved with assurance thanks to that training, comfortable with the curves that it was developing. She even toyed with the idea that her breasts might be getting bigger, though wasn't quite sure how to feel about that just yet.

She endured this unfamiliar, this embarrassing exercise, all so that she could ignore the one big change that absorbed all of her attention like a point horizon to the center of her stomach. The seal, for she knew both instinctively and from experience that was what it was. The thing that presented like a scar on her abdomen was all she could think about.

Tried, and failed, to ignore it. For all the answers she sought by looking into that mirror after waking in her bed, the reflected image had none for her and instead offered only further hardship.

Ruby Rose did not understand the internal struggle that waged inside of her upon realizing that the meeting with the reborn Kyuubi was not a dream, but instead was part of her new reality. That same reality that was ushered in with the cataclysmic fall of Beacon, which and brought all the other harsh facts with it.

She did not know how to feel, looking at that fragile young woman staring back out at her. Should she be upset, as no doubt her uncle would be when he found out? Should she be worried, or perhaps invigorated that she had such an obviously strong entity residing in her? Should she be grateful that she could ease the burden on her dear friend who had so many other hardships to deal with?

The latter she found hard to envision. Though she had little doubt that she possessed the support of her friends and family in this matter, she still could not quite bring herself to be thankful to be the bearer of such a burden. She felt the pity directed inward.

It was without a doubt the most selfish thought she owned, and it went against every one of her beliefs, hopes and dreams until that point. She had become a huntress to help others. It was easy to help everyone, so very difficult to help the ones she loved, and impossible to help herself.

What could she do with this knowledge? What should she do? For once the keeper of such a profound secret, she found a jealousy to guard it, to keep it from harming the ones she loved. Qrow would no doubt need to know if he didn't already, and he would inform the others within the realms of propriety. But what of her father? What of her sister?

What of the previous warden who had lost all memory of just who and what he had been? How in the name of Remnant would she break the news to them? If, at all?

The devil herself silently padded down the hallway to the bedroom door, careful not to disturb her unconscious sister. However, upon sneaking a peak through the slightly ajar door, she found that her efforts had been unneeded as Ruby was already awake. Yang found the sight of her sister admiring herself in the room's vanity mirror to be a perfect opportunity to tease the shy girl, if only for old time's sake.

But she didn't. She resisted the urge to burst into the room to catch the girl off-guard because when she caught the face staring back from the looking-glass, she found it a stranger. It was not the same girl she knew who would blush upon looking at her own naked reflection. It was a ghost, a lonely spirit of what it was in life, and aimlessly searching the depths of its visage for answers. So transfixed as she was on that sorrowful glance, she did not even notice the faint pink hints of a scar intricately inscribed around her navel.

For what it was worth, Yang was only human, and they only ever saw what they wanted to see.

"Hey Rubes," She called out, rapping on the solid wood door twice with her knuckles before entering. "You're up. How are you feeling?"

Ruby flinched and ripped the sheets off the bed frantically trying to cover herself. The look on her face was not one of embarrassment, but of fear. "H-hey Yang." She stuttered, although far more eloquent than she might have been a month or so prior. "Yeah, I just woke up now. How long was I out?"

The older woman pushed her way into their shared room, walking over to Ruby's bedside and sitting down on the edge next to her sister, who was trying her best not to bury herself within the covers wrapped around her like a cocoon. She continued to smile gently, not ignorant of the abnormal behavior displayed by her sibling, but unable to justify it.

"You were out for quite some time, almost 24 hours." That meant the bluish light entering the room was the evening's waxing, and not the pre-dawn as she had hoped. "You must have really overdone it with your training. How are you feeling?"

"Fine." She replied honestly, focusing only on the physical. She had perhaps been going a bit overboard with her daily sessions and had taxed her body somewhat, but suspected that was not the reason she had been unconscious for so long.

"You really should be more careful, you know. At your age it's pretty easy to stunt your growth." Yang chided with a diminished smirk on her face. "Especially with all of that junk you eat."

Despite the uplifting warmth the over-acted Mother-Henning had on her, Ruby felt the need to tease her sister about it. So she did.

"Geeze, when did you get so old and responsible?" She stuck out her tongue, in an expression of humor that felt more real than it probably was. Her reply was a playful check on the shoulder from the boxer that was harder than intended.

"What are you talking about? I'm not old, I'm a beautifully mature woman." She flirted back facetiously, doffing her prized hair.

Before Ruby could continue their practiced game, Yang surprised her by reaching over and wrapping her arms around her blanket-swathed form, squeezing her with a gentle insistence.

"Don't scare me like that again."

Ruby wanted to scream out in anguish, demand that her sister not ask so impossible a task. But with all of her boundless determination, she kept silent. This was the first time in a long while she could just sit down and be with her sister, and for all she knew it could be the last. It wasn't likely, but dark thoughts such as these were impossible to keep out of her mind as of late. At least now she knew why, or at least suspected the cause. She wasn't going to let it, or her own misgivings spoil the moment however.

She just leaned into the hug, resting her head on the shoulder provided and silently thought of nothing. There wasn't anything in the world she really wanted then anyway.

"Cursed be the day Yang becomes a mother…"

….Although, some peace and quiet might be nice for once.

While she was happy to see her uncle, he truly had terrible timing. Yang must have thought so too, for with one hand still wrapped around Ruby, the other chucked a pillow with deadly accuracy at the unkempt man leaning against the doorway.

"Damn! Yang, did you really have to throw it so hard?" Qrow asked, picking himself slowly off the ground.

"Talk about getting old, you must be slipping in your old age Uncle Qrow." Yang shot back, turning to face the unwanted guest with hands on her hips. "Either that or you have been pushing yourself almost as hard as Ruby."

"Speaking of which," Qrow brushed himself off as he barged into the room. He hadn't wanted to interrupt their sisterly moment, but, well…. Okay maybe he did. Was it so wrong for him to glean some little bit of pleasure from teasing them? He'd had a hell of a rough day and needed some levity.

"How are you feeling, Ruby?"

"Geeze, why is everyone asking me that?" She huffed indignantly, as much for appearance's sake than anything else. Though she felt fine now, she still had no recollection of how she ended up in bed when her last memory was of training in the glen outside.

Well, her last conscious memory, at least.

Did Qrow know anything? He had to at least suspect. Upon waking she had been clothed in one of her nightshirts. She had a theory it was her Uncle that had taken care of her. If that was the case, there was no way he missed the seal on her stomach, faint though it was.

She caught his eyes, but for the life of her could not see anything beyond the genuine curiosity and concern which was directed at her. He opened his mouth to say something but she waved him off. She knew her uncle well enough to know that it wouldn't be what he really wanted to say in any case.

"Right, right, I know, I passed out and slept for a bit. But now I'm fine, see!"

Yang shot up as Ruby leapt off the bed with a vigor normally reserved for cute animals and sugary goods. Instead she began going through a rapid succession of exercises, more caricatures than anything else for she really had very little idea what she was doing.

"Enough!" Her Uncle cried as he dove to catch a lamp that Ruby in her flailing had tipped over.

In one fluid motion he placed the lamp back on the nightstand and swept up his eccentric niece, slinging her back into bed with a surprised *eep* that was muffled by the tangle of sheets. Once she managed to free herself, Ruby opened her mouth with an assuredly scathing objection which crawled back into its hole when Qrow sent her a glare that could mold fruit.

"While I'm sure you're feeling better Ruby," He began after taking a calming breath. "I don't want you to leave this room until tomorrow at least. We really don't want you overdoing it again."

"Fine." The girl pouted seeing even her sister nod in agreeance with the room's sole adult. "But we'll get back to training tomorrow right?" She asked with genuine concern. She didn't want to suddenly become a wall flower because of her uncle's overprotective nature.

"Nope." Once again her most vocal of retorts was preempted by the man with a simple gesture.

"I never said we wouldn't be training now."

From the same magical back pocket that contained a quasi-limitless supply of alcohol he produced a tome of incredible scope and breadth, tossing it in front of the awestruck and horrified young woman who prayed that it was a practical joke. It wasn't, and the book was every bit as heavy as it looked, catapulting her off the edge as it sunk deep into the springy mattress.

"Sorry about that." Qrow winced at the loud thump made by the girl as she tumbled off the bed at the hand of 'A Brief Thesis on the Application of Mutable Weapons in the Field of Hunting: Abridged'.

"Well, seeing as you two are going to be pretty busy…"

As Ruby was getting back up off the floor and wondering at the sudden onset of a starry night, Yang was quickly backtracking out of the room as fast as she could, lest she get roped into her sister's self-imposed torture.

"Un-uh, where do you think you're going?"

Qrow was indifferent, and in fact a little bit smug, at the cascade of tears coming from his blonde niece as he held her aloft by her collar.

"I think you could do with a little bit of study, Yang, lest your skills get rusty over the break."

"Come on Yang, it won't be so bad." Ruby said with the most sympathetic smile she could raise, which was frankly kind of pathetic. She winced, cracking open the volume's ancient spine and nearly toppling over again at the musty smell that was bound between the pages.

Qrow paused in leading the sobbing Yang to his 'training session', briefly toying with the idea of growing a conscience. He sighed and lowered Yang until her feet touched the ground, letting her drop to her knees much to the young woman's surprise.

"That can wait until later."

He made a left turn, padding over to the dresser across the room and began rifling around its depths. The sisters looked at one another at a loss to explain the sudden mood shift in their substitute teacher.

After not too long, Qrow returned to the two of them. In his hands a rectangular carboard box whose printed cover was worn beyond recognition. But they didn't need to read the label to know what it was.

"Remnant-"

"-the game?"

"If, that is, you are up to it."

He qualified with a playful smirk, setting the box down over the incredibly small print of 'the Thesis' and carefully removing the gameboard and pieces.

"Eh, that game's kind of old-"

"Hell yeah! You're on Uncle Qrow!"

Yang sighed at her sister's renewed enthusiasm, consoling herself with the knowledge that the game was probably less arduous than the alternative. Who knew, she might even have fun.

It was what the three of them needed in any case. The rest of their lives could be devoted to preparing to face the harsh realities which lay outside this wooded paradise.

Qrow knew he was right to be worried for his youngest niece, for the legacy of Summer Rose. He needn't have heard Naruto's story to know that she would have an even harder path ahead of her now. He would be there for her, as he was sure Yang would be. He even admitted finally that Naruto himself would rally to their cause in a heartbeat. He had realized long ago that it was impossible not to put his faith in that kid.

But faith only went so far. What could he, what could any of them do if the Kyuubi decided to try and break out again? The new seal was identical to the one on the blond Faunus, and both were unique in their obscurity. Only time would tell what new challenges they would be confronted with.

But that time would come. For now, summer was here and school was out, and all was right in that humble household.

* * *

"What do you think we should do now?"

The young man's trembling voice spoke for all of the present bodies, huddled and cowering amidst the scattered rocks of the cave which gave but little dry height over the flooded floor. The roar of waves rushing in and out of the cavern's submerged entrance drowned out the answer which was not forthcoming. Each crash of the wave's peak against the rocks outside sent shivers through the spines of those present.

The number of bodies within was too much for a hideout that small. But they had little choice in the matter, they would rather perish than abandon any of their brethren. And this was the last, the most secure safehouse they had left to them. Far up along the coast, North of Vale where hopefully none of the lingering security forces would find them. It was as remote as they could reach with their current strength.

Here, far out past the last population in the kingdom, where not even Grimm bothered to comb the beaches for humans that were not to be found, they were safe. They could regroup, and try to sort out the mess that had become of their once proud organization. They could let their anger and rage show without retribution.

But there was none of that. Only fear, and uncertainty.

Their attack like any other conflict was not exempt from the ironies of war. It was not the veteran, the most experienced and most powerful members of the White Fang that had escaped the siege of Beacon, and the later purge in the city of Vale. It was the young, the inexperienced, and the ones most questionable of motivation, who made it out alive. The ones who found reason only with the numbers of their fellow Faunus allied to the cause, and nothing in particular it stood for.

That was who had crammed into the marine cavern. The ones that braved the wilds and the northern seas to swim up into this secret hidey-hole did so out of desperation, not conviction. And so, when the question was asked, none had an answer.

"W-what about the others?" The rat Faunus stuttered out, partially out of the sheer cold. She certainly resembled her namesake, half-drowned when she attempted to swim through the submarine entrance. She shivered against the mass of a bear Faunus, and the half-dozen others that balanced on the rock with her.

Perhaps there had been others. Certainly a few of the heartiest of their species had made it out. They were known for being resilient, for crawling away from certain death to fight again another day. But those that made it out because of their strength **would** go back and fight. They would have remained in Vale, hidden in plain sight despite the amped patrols combing the streets so they could lick their wounds and plan the next attack.

They would not be coming for them, if they even thought they were alive.

Maybe some of them went home, went back to Menagerie. It was no secret that there were more than a few dissatisfied with Adam's governance and hardline operation. They would rally back to the White Fang's previous leader, beg for amnesty, and most likely go back to protesting. Back to the way things were as if nothing had ever happened.

That was not for them, either. They were tired of fighting for an ideal that seemed so far away, and afraid of the retribution the citizens of Vale would demand on them. Afraid they would be branded cowards for running away, they dared not rejoin their more zealous comrades of either sect. Fear dogged their every decision. And fear was often a very good motivator.

But at the moment they were boxed in with nowhere to go, and no clear plan ahead. They obviously couldn't remain in that dark and dank sanctuary. It was barely large enough to hold their group out of the frigid seas as it was, and offered nothing to sustain life for any extended period of time. The oxygen was already running short, and the numerous masked faces noted their vision start to swim, their eyelids droop from fatigue.

Or was it?

A few of the more alert bodies among them noticed that the onset of asphyxiation was too rapid, and the dizziness accompanied by a warm glow that ceased their shivering and drew their attention to the back of the cave.

" _You can't rely on others to save you."_

"W-who are you?"

The same young Faunus from before accosted the diminishing darkness and sultry voice emanating from the rear of the hollow. Pupils both slit and round dilated as the white light intensified. And from the heavenly stage stepped a maiden as fair as any they had ever seen, her skin the hue of earth and hair the luster of leaves. She opened her eyes to reveal a fire that burned within them.

"She's a human!" "Is she a huntress?" "How did the authorities manage to find us here?"

Murmurs broke out around the cave as a scant few weapons rattled against the stone in shaky grips.

" _Do not be alarmed, I am not here to harm you."_

"Then what do you want?" A woman with scales framing her exposed jaw spoke out for the first time, brandishing one of the few swords among them and shielding another two White Fang, barely out of their teens, behind her.

" _I want to help."_

"Yeah, right. You just said we can't rely on others to save us. Why should we trust you?"

"Hey, isn't that one of the kids that was tagging along with that Cinder woman?"

"Shit, yeah! And where were you during the whole battle? You come here promising help when you couldn't even help yourself!"

"She's just like every other human trying to take advantage of us!"

"Damn right!"

Emerald smirked behind her lighted veil. They hadn't realized it yet, but they were getting bolder each second they spent in her presence. She may have been the Fall Maiden now, but that didn't mean she had given up on her previously life. If anything, her illusions had become more powerful, responding to the passionate emotions of her victims. Neo could handle the rest of the theatrics.

" _I, am no mere human any longer."_

After issuing this simple statement and before any more complaints could be levied against her, Emerald raised her arms and thrust them to the front of the cave, raising a black column of lava from the ocean floor and forcing the water out the entrance, plugging the hole in one fell swoop.

As the stunned silence continued, she stepped off from previously unnoticed raft and onto the damp floor, where she then raised her arms once again, hovering them over the craggy ground. The moisture from the rocks vaporized and very soon the whole chamber was dry.

As the Faunus perched on the columns and boulders picked their way down to the newly revealed floor, she topped off her masterpiece with a handful of fireballs which burned without end from the ceiling and bathed the shocked faces in a hearty glow.

The White Fang castoffs gathered on the new ground level and conferred amongst themselves, hushed voices in proper amounts of reverence for their newly erected cathedral. They didn't even notice as the rudimentary illusion around their 'goddess' faltered, and Emerald's right arm shed itself to puddle and cool on the mafic floor.

Neo had done her job well, and none would now question her strength.

"I am no longer human, as you are no longer Faunus." She gestured with the one arm to the still awestruck and fearful faces and half-faces around the room. Many had already shed their Grimm masks without yet admitting to themselves that with it went their allegiance to the White Fang.

"You have been betrayed, abandon by your kind as I have mine. Let us survive together."

She never intended to become a leader like Cinder had. Didn't want to instill false hope on such impressionable souls. But she realized there was no chance of her simply disappearing as she had hoped. The only way to get what she wanted was by force. Each faction in this conflict had their army, and now she would have hers. She would build it from the castoffs of each walk, the ones who waged against the status quo, but stayed because they could see nothing better.

She would be the better. She would be whatever was needed to get her subordinates to follow her. She told herself that she was not exploiting them, that what she offered was the most reasonable choice. She had seen the bad in the world, and for a brief bit the good as well.

Maybe they could disappear together, be strong enough that no one would challenge their independence. Live like the Branwens or other nomadic tribes. They wouldn't have to have an established government like the kingdoms. They could avoid the mistakes of the past.

And so it began with good intentions.

Like every other path to hell, paved with good intentions.

* * *

The sounds of snores drowned out those of the crickets chirping through the open window. But Ruby didn't mind. She relished in the cool night air drifting in as much as the quiet sounds of life all around her.

Or maybe not so quiet, in Yang's case. The woman sawing away in a manner any would consider unladylike, dwarfing any sounds that might be coming from Zwei who had found a comfortable spot by the foot of her bed. But that was her sister, and she was unperturbed and unashamed of the tomboyish blonde whose curvaceous frame sprawled half-way off her own bed.

Though it was beyond late, so late that it had in fact become early, Ruby felt no fatigue. She had slept too much during the day previous, and in any case, could not settle her mind enough to find quiet rest. The game had been a good distraction, mental floss that could clean out the grunge that would be built up by studying the dusty text which now bore a pint-sized dog, contentedly snoring away on its cover.

She watched the pale moonlight as it tracked across the room, hour by hour, continually fixated on where it shone like a spotlight on her equally pale stomach. Time had not healed that wound, conversely it now seemed even more noticeable than before, visibly inscribed in her otherwise unmarred flesh instead of a simple discoloration.

How long would she be able to keep it a secret? How long could she, should she do so? Convoluted schemes of all manner had all passed under her scrutiny, and all had been equally dismissed. Makeup would run with sweat, bandages would need to be replaced, she would have to bathe some time, and whenever she tried to direct attention away from herself, the more it seemed drawn to her.

Her sigh turned into a yawn. Maybe she had been more tired than she had thought, or maybe all this worrying had finally gotten to her.

"Good night moon, good night stars…." She began whispering softly a tune her mother used to sing to her every night. But her memory failed her, if indeed it was a memory at all. "Good night Naruto, wherever you are."

He no longer had any memory of the fox and so could not help her directly. But without a doubt he would stop at nothing to do what he could and help her find a way forward. So she added his name to the simple refrain, so that together with the others they could write new lyrics to songs not yet written. Ballads of heroism, victory and happy endings.

"Zzzzz…..Good night Ruby…..zzzzzz"

Yang muttered out sleepily, a trail of drool escaping out onto the floor. Ruby smiled and pulled the nightshirt down over her stomach, out of sight, out of mind. She turned over on her side so that she could look out the window as her eyes drooped, and counted the stars until she fell asleep.

Neither were disturbed by the presence outside their door which moved in total silence, and which watched over them both during their slumbers. Neither could fathom the turmoil and guilt that ran through the man's mind, harsh and jagged in the throes of sobriety.

And none of them, awake or asleep, could dream of what fortunes would come.


	6. Your Country

**Remember: every frozen corpse on Mt. Everest started out as a highly motivate person. Stay lazy, my friends.**

* * *

The ship of the great hero Theseus sat neglected for years in the harbor. The elements slowly whittling away at its pristine hull, salt water eating the iron nails and sun consuming its bleached white sails.

Then the tide turned, and the people cared about heroes and their legacies once again. Bit by bit it was restored to its former glory. The rotten planks were removed and replaced, carted off to the trash heap one by one. Sections bearing the scars from infamous battles, mementos carved in from those that lived aboard her, and a thousand histories of smells, sights and experiences, were lost to become mulch. It was unavoidable if the ship were to continue floating in the harbor.

Then one day, many years later, the ship still stood. Now though not a single piece of it remained from the times it had sailed in glory and anger. Every board exchanged, every nail swapped out. And yet, this was still the same ship that inspired thousands.

What truly became of the discarded pieces though, was known to very few. The hermit who lived in the scrap yard saw these pieces come in one by one, and could not bear the thought of them becoming irrelevant. So, as more and more of the ship was relegated to his domain, more and more his own project began to take shape.

So that one day, many years later, the ship of the great hero Theseus sat in his yard, disheveled and rotten, resurrected from the grave, a shadow of its former self.

And so the question only he pondered was this: which then was the true legendary vessel? Wherein did the magic lie? The revenant, or the survivor?

* * *

Sasuke woke from his dream with a start, gasping for breath. His eyes shot open to take stock of his surroundings, only to reveal nothing.

But he was used to this by now. As morbid as it was, the exercise had become routine for the prodigal Uchiha. And so he lay there, steadying his respiration with calming breaths as his hands worried incessantly on the bearskin upon which he lay. Expecting the sensation did nothing to dull the pain.

Angry thoughts which gestated in that darkness were alleviated somewhat as a wet cloth dabbed at his eyes, cleaning the blood which dribbled from the sockets. And the steady stream of Aura which deadened the pain as it spread to a dull throb. It was a reminder that he was not alone in this anymore.

Thus, he could bear through the pain within darkness, for a time which previously felt like an eternity dropped off to mere centuries. He opened his eyes to see the light.

The taut canvas overhead was aglow only with a spattering of blue-green light. But this far north it was difficult to tell the time within the season and the sun moved slowly in its shallow arc. It might have been a few minutes before dawn and still be close to noon.

"Rest, it's still early." A gentle but firm hand pressed him back down into the bed of furs and he put up only a token resistance.

"Eleven minutes thirty-six seconds." No other words need be exchanged between the two. This had become normal as well over the past months.

"It's getting worse."

No words were needed, but still they were said. He held both admiration and ire for that peculiar frankness in his teacher. It was her way of saying she cared what happened to him, though the more vindictive part of his psyche said that she cared only for the investment of her time. It was in no way true, but the thought lingered.

It wasn't true because despite the fact that it was getting worse, she stuck with him. Brought him along on her travels in the northern territories to the west of Atlas, and in the good times trained him like it was the most natural thing for her to do. And in his bad, cared for him like there was no other option. She would not have done so if she thought it was in vain.

But it **was** getting worse. The periods of darkness lasting longer upon waking, and the pain continuing well into consciousness. It had spread as well, emanating from the back of his eyes and migrating downwards so that now it was like his whole body was experiencing a lobotomy. And it was a slow progression, interminably slow.

If only the disease would respond with his burning anger and consume him. Then he could be free, removed from the shackles which kept him going, day in, day out. Liberated from the duties he believed motivated him.

But this too was a fallacy. The only thing keeping him from slitting his own wrists and being done with it, was the knowledge that even in death his duties left undone would haunt him as regrets.

"I'm afraid I won't be any more help to you." That was a lie. She had done more for him than science could thus far, and the woman was fearless. Was she abandoning him? Now, after all this time?

"It's time." It would seem so, and he closed his eyes to complete the solitude.

"It's time to return."

Return to where? Without Ozpin his way home was barred from him, if it had ever existed in the first place. There was nowhere for him anymore, as far as he knew. The only one who cared for his existence was in the tent with him.

"It's time to go home."

Home was an interesting notion. The place he slept was transitory. The place he felt most comfortable no longer existed. Wherever the place for him to go back to was gone, changed in the course of time as he had. One could never go backwards.

"Your friends are waiting."

Faces he hadn't seen in a hundred eternities flashed through his mind like a newsreel. One in particular was in every other frame. Was that a reality he experienced? Or was it merely a story on the silver screen? It was time to find out.

Time to go home then. Home, where the heart lay.

* * *

"I'll keep this brief…."

The low flapping of the flags in the breeze was the only other sound competing for attention amidst the thousands of faces trained in her direction. Upturned looks spanning the gambit of emotions filled the audience of the outdoor address, brilliant sunlight shining down on hundreds of brightened faces, some new and some familiar. Everyone young and old waiting on baited breath for what she had to say.

"You have traveled here today in search of knowledge-to hone your craft and acquire new skills. And when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose – direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to seek out that first step."

Those that knew the speech smiled softly as the newcomers looked on in confusion. Her eyes caught several others in the back of the audience flicker with restrained emotion, and she sent them a reassuring smile of her own.

"-But you will not be alone in this. Those that are with you now, and those that you have yet to meet will be with you, as will everyone at this school. Together we will search for the truth that liberates all, and together we will find it. Only then will everyone be free. Welcome to Beacon."

The applause started slowly, a few isolated claps from return students-fewer than there ought to be-kicked off the celebration which rose in a crescendo until the entirety of the front lawn was one furious roar of approval.

It was all Glynda could have ever hoped for. So many on the outside of their circle hadn't expected them to succeed, hadn't wanted them to succeed, that it came as a surprise even to them when so many applications flooded the newly restored mail service. While they had lost both teachers and students to the specter of fear in wake of the attack on the academy, many more now saw them as a symbol of strength and endurance. Beacon academy had been leveled to the ground, but had risen up from the ashes to start again.

Though in principle she had borne the brunt of the task, she knew that she could not have done it without the support of a few. Those few stood off to the side and applauded her in humility. They had been one of the chief reasons she dared do it in the first place. Though a few notable faces were missing from that group of smiles that ought to be there, she knew that at least two would soon be back. She had faith they would return to her.

She quietly stepped down from the podium and the applause slowly died off into hundreds of individual conversations, unintelligible parting words and blurred greetings.

"Jaune! Naruto!"

The two blonds broke in their chat with Professor Port and turned to where they were called. It was nearly impossible to miss the bob of red hair above the crowds, who parted in deference as the celebrity huntress made her way over to them.

"Pyrrha!" "Hey, there!"

She had made a beeline to the two of them through the throngs of people whispering conspiratorially at her presence and stopped within arm's reach. Though her gaze had originally been fixated on her teammate, she almost took a step back in surprise when catching full sight of the blond next to him.

"Wow, Naruto, you've grown!"

"Huh? Have I?" He blinked owlishly and looked over at Jaune who shrugged unknowingly.

His only comparison being his fellow student and teacher who towered above him regardless, Naruto had very little evidence of this. Not that he paid any particular attention anyway. The fit of clothes was no indication either, as he dressed continually in the best of goodwill most articles were several sizes too big for him anyway.

"Huh, well maybe it's just the ears that make you look taller." Pyrrha suggested lightly, not really believing it herself.

The changes might have been small, but numerously compiled over the weeks apart they amounted to quite a bit. His ears now pushed past Jaune's shoulder, if barely, and the well-loved punk-rock t-shirt that he wore bore enough holes that she could see burgeoning muscle underneath.

"I…like the outfit." She muttered lamely, not knowing how to compliment her platonic male friend.

It wasn't that he wasn't turning into an attractive young man, and in fact it was not that hard to think of him that way, now. But she was most comfortable with him as a friend and comrade, and it was the other blond that held her affection.

And he had developed as well. It was harder to tell underneath the armor that he still wore. The armor which now bore signs of heavy use was carried on his frame with a casual air, and the new set of jeans and t-shirt which fit far more snugly than they had before.

"Huh? Oh yeah, it's okay I guess." Naruto pulled at the swiss-cheese t-shirt of a band he had never heard of, ignoring the awkward looks between his two friends.

"You look…good, too Jaune." She tried to hide her embarrassment by checking the young man in his shoulder plate, but balked as there was far less give than she thought. Jaune hardly reacted to the light punch, scratching the back of his head instead of toppling over in a heap.

"Thanks Py-"

"Friends!"

"Ahhhh! What the hell Yang?" "Hello, there." "My spleen…." Various groans came from beneath the buxom blonde as she embraced all three on the ground.

"Hey whiskers, Pyr, Jauny-boy."

The whispers from the crowd faded away as they dispersed to give the pile of bodies a wide birth, rightly afraid of the blonde woman who had barreled through them to throw herself on the small group.

"Umm, Yang, do you think you could let us up now?"

"Mmmm….nope!" She replied cheerfully, digging her elbow 'playfully' into Naruto's ribs.

"As great as it is to see you, I think I'm running out of oxygen here-"

"DOGPILE!"

"Wait, Nora, stop!"

"Oh shit!"

"Run away!"

"I can't move!"

"Mommy!"

*WHOOMP!*

As she talked with several members of Vale's administration, Glynda felt herself sigh seeing another plume of dust rise into the clear blue skies past the confused heads that were also turning to the sound. Were minor explosions going to become an inauguration-day theme from now on? If so, she might have to start charging students for property damage after all.

"Did someone say 'dogpile'?" A soft voice asked innocently as it waded through the dust cloud.

"Hey Ruby…" A disheveled Naruto greeted from the bottom of the crater.

* * *

The two travelers could just barely see the shining tower of the rebuilt academy from within the walls of Vale proper. As soon as they took two steps past the gate, they felt a low thump reverberate in their ears and saw the results of the shockwave propagate upwards from in front of the school.

Stifling the notion that this was another attack upon the rebuilt school, Sasuke sighed as he realized the probable cause of such an event, and mulled over whether or not it had been a good decision to return to the City-State.

"Friends of yours?" Aurelia the nomad questioned him from atop her horse, cocking an eyebrow in what he had come to comprehend as amusement.

Contrary to his words, he shook his head, but a small smile wormed its way onto his face none the less.

"Yeah, those are my friends."

* * *

"Were we ever really like that?"

"Nah, you guys were much worse. We had bets going on how long you'd last."

Ruby deflated, thinking back on their own first day at Beacon while Yang's mouth hung open, looking ready to deny the defamatory statement before she paused and placed the finger which had been wavering menacingly in the air on her chin in thought.

"Yeah, probably about right."

The former first-years plus team CFVY laughed heartily at how easily they all seemed to accept their previous incompetence. They watched the stream of fresh and excited faces flood into the main hall from an out of the way spot in the sides under the gables. The continuity of smiles, which at first were so endearing, soon lost their charm to those that had seen the very walls around them crumble. Were they ever truly that innocent? How could anyone be so now, and what right did they have to be so happy?

"Well, you certainly showed us, though."

Coco already knew the drill. When the uncomfortable silence fell she went back to her usual incitement of light heartedness by teasing her favorite neophytes.

She reached over to ruffle Naruto's hair, but with the teen's new height the condescending effect was lost. That, and she knew better than to mess with a Faunus's ears. So she settled for pinching his cheek instead, whisker marks still an irresistible target.

"But I always had confidence in our little 'Ruto here."

"He always was the best of us." Lie Ren added his two cents to the increased embarrassment of the fox Faunus.

"Speaking of which, you owe me a spar, Whiskers." Yang pumped her fist dangerously as Naruto disengaged himself from Coco's grasp. "I gotta make sure you haven't gone lax during the summer."

Jaune almost snorted at the absurdity of her taunt. She really had no idea how laughable that assumption was. While he was almost certain they had never seen the boy's full extent before, he was certainly no slouch now. A fact he could vouch for personally.

"You're on Yang!" Naruto mirrored her gesture and enthusiasm, anxious to pick up where they had left off.

"Boys." Weiss sighed and Blake rolled her eyes, but both had a smile painted across their faces.

In fact, they now realized that each of them had a similar expression imbued upon them. Soft smiles omnipresent, but in their case most certainly deserved.

"Speaking of which…" "Where's Sasuke?"

Both teams RWBY and JNPR understood that the question posed by CFVY's leader was a flinch-worthy one. But to their great surprise, Naruto's reaction was constrained to a subtle shift, as his smile morphed to a smirk as he spun back to face Coco.

"Probably late, as usual."

While the gathered sans Jaune mulled over the statement, a shadow fell over their cabal.

"You would think that even with losing your memories you would remember that most important of principles…"

The assembled party turned to the entrance where a dark and slender figure walked straight up to them, his face hidden in the blinding light.

"A hero always shows up late."

"Too bad you're right on time, ya bastard."

Naruto had already made his way up to the figure before any of them could do anything and stood rigid, confronting him with arms crossed across his chest. They all held their breaths for the time it took the heavy oaken doors to shut with a heavy thunk as the cast iron latches sealed it closed. As their eyes got used to the flickering firelight, they were greeted with the man of the hour, every bit as handsome and haughty as they remembered him.

Nerves were running so high that when the two of them moved in unison, the rest of them jumped to separate the impending fight. Most of them did, anyway, for Jaune placed a gentle hand on Pyrrha;s shoulder, silently holding her back against her questioning concern and urging her to wait and see.

Hand met forearm on either side as toothy grin met bitter smile. The onlookers watched on in muted awe as the two exchanged grips and silent greetings.

"Long time no see, Naruto."

"That ain't funny, you emo prick."

"It is to me."

Naruto's smile grew as he pulled the dark-haired boy into a firm embrace, close enough that he could whisper in his ear.

"Is it really that bad?"

"It's not getting better, but we'll talk about that later."

He expected that he had some explaining to do beyond the debriefing of what their individual training had been like when they parted ways. No matter how much he improved in the time away, he still felt ashamed for his malady which should have been a benefit for their shorthanded team, and so was still reluctant to disclose of such privy information in so public an area. It wasn't a surprise that Naruto would demand to know given so obvious a hint, but he did not expect what came next.

"It's good to have you back."

He held him now at arms-length by the shoulders so that if indeed Sasuke could still see him clearly, he could observe the honesty in his comrade's eyes which never told a lie. Despite all the things that had changed between them, that naked fact always remained.

"Its… good to be back."

"There you are Sasuke! Where have you been?"

"Yeah, where were you hiding, man?"

"Wait, you were hiding? Someone was playing hide-and-seek without telling me?!"

"It's just a figure of speech Nora."

"No way! We haven't seen him for like four months! He must be the best hide-and-seek champion ever!"

Sasuke chuckled as one by one the others came and greeted his less than triumphant return, seemingly oblivious to the conspiratorial whispers shared between the two. He was glad of that, even now he was too much the center of attention for his tastes, but endured it to humor the people he thought of as friends. He nodded politely in the group's direction, and once again to Jaune whom he had grown more accustomed to in all honesty.

"Hello everyone. It's good to see you all again."

"Aw, don't be like that." Yang leapt over to the two younger males, catching them both under each arm. "C'mon give us all a hug. Where's the love?" She teased with no small amount of flirtatious charm.

Despite being with more blondes than he ever wanted to see in a single lifetime during the summer off, he still was not up to tolerating so much affection in one sitting.

"No, no hugs."

"Awe, come on, I'd bet you'd do it if Blake was in on it. Blake! Come over here! Group hug!"

"I'll take a rain check."

"Did someone say 'group hug'?"

"Nora, we just went through this once today, can you please try and restrain yourself."

"No! First I was left out of hide-and-seek and if there's a group hug I want in! This is happening Ren!"

"No! I said I don't do hugs!"

"Uh-oh."

"Oh god, not again!"

"Mercy!"

Coco sighed looking at the one-woman dogpile on top the two prodigal teens and Yang. Maybe she gave them too much credit before. It must have been a fluke or a miracle that got them this far.

The truth though, was always a little of both.

* * *

"So….where do we go from here?"

The question was posed to the woman in front of them, propped up behind the magnificent desk and exuding an air of officiality which had nothing to do with the piece of furniture. Even though it was asked at her, it was already on the minds of everyone in the room. She, however, was probably the only one with a clear idea as to the answer.

"What would you like to do?"

The question was a curveball if ever there was one. With Glynda it had always been a direct, irrefutable order. In a way that was nice, having someone else who had all the responsibility and all the answers. They could count the number of times on one hand they had been given a choice. And so, it was with this and other thoughts in mind that they bore more confusion than suspicion.

"Do we have a choice in the matter?"

"You always have a choice, you of all people should understand that, Sasuke."

Said raven held his rude sounds of irritation at bay, plenty aware of how the estranged Arc viewed such signs of respect.

"I mean, do we have any choice that doesn't amount to starving in the wilderness?" Strangely enough, this snarky reply seemed satisfactory to the grizzled woman who smirked almost viciously at the two teenagers standing at attention.

"Everyone relax,"

Glynda ordered this time, pointedly directing it towards the silvery-blonde woman standing by her side. She had long since learned that the woman tolerated and respected strength and conviction in that order, and so she would not tiptoe around her desires when in her company. But as she turned to the two, nearly grown young men, she felt a more delicate touch was needed. She was starting to understand how Ozpin managed to wrangle things with such delicacy, but was still herself far from proficient at it.

"I express my question with the utmost honesty," She insisted, and they had no reason not to believe her. "I truly want to hear what you two want to do going forward." The two held silent and listened to the woman's words drown out the soft clicking of cogs in the background. When she was behind that desk, she was the headmistress, and with the flip of a switch, personal attachments had to be postponed.

"We have had this conversation once before." She admitted to the last Uchiha while Naruto humored the two, knowing instinctively if not specifically what they were talking about. "But as we all know, the circumstances are different now, and I would like to treat this as the first time, only with…experience. I want to offer you the choice that Ozpin didn't, that he couldn't give you."

"So what does that mean?" Sasuke questioned and folded his arms underneath his fine wool riding cloak. "You give us the option to just walk away, and we are still targets for every single person of power in this world." She nodded gravely, giving nothing else away. "Our only **real** option is to stay here, and in doing so we are naturally indebted to you."

"I don't want you to think of it that way."

"What you want, and what is, are two very different things. You can't change that reality."

"No, but what if I could change yours?"

The pregnant question was a like a dagger to the heart for the raven-haired boy.

"Are you saying that after all this time, you have a way to send us back?"

Now Naruto was fully engaged in the conversation, though held his breath waiting for what his teacher and confidant had to say.

"As of yet, no." She admitted with a heavy heart. "The school's previous collapse took all that research with it. But if that is what you desire, I swear to you that we will devote all available resources to the endeavor." She stood up so suddenly and violently that the rolling office chair nearly toppled over. "No, that isn't good enough. If you tell me that is what you want, I will beg, borrow, and even steal if I have to, to find the resources to get you home as soon as possible."

This sudden and emphatic behavior shocked the two teens into silence which was filled only by the continuing turning of the gears around them, meticulously restored out of some sense of nostalgia rather than practicality.

"Sasuke," The young man turned to his blond companion, but dare not look him in the eye.

"Take it, if you want to. Take the offer. You've earned it." Naruto all but implored him, and Sasuke felt his heart all but break. This was what he was afraid of upon returning, to find out once and for all that he was unneeded, unwanted.

"You've both earned it." Glynda insisted, trying not to bias the decision with any of her own emotion, but also trying to be a fair arbiter.

"You don't want to find a way back." Sasuke gritted out the obvious, words so much more painful when voiced aloud. He had been thinking them for months now, knew them ever since his friend woke up in that hospital tent. But he never had had the opportunity to come to terms with them. Though his sword instructor had been with him through thick and thin for the recent past, she was admittedly not one to offer an emotional or even physical crutch.

"How can I go back to a place I don't remember?" Naruto nearly whispered out. "Despite what you might think, I do care about everyone you say knew me before." He revealed his acceptance at last to the surprise and relief of nearly everyone in the room. "I-I know that you're telling the truth. But that doesn't make it any easier. If anything, it makes it harder. I **know** that I should go back. I **know** that is what the Naruto you knew would do. But is that the right thing?" He shook his head dejectedly as his own tears threatened to fall.

"So what would the old me do? If he loved his friends as much as I love mine now, I know he would go through hell to get back to them. He would do anything to get back to them. But would he abandon one set of precious people to save another?"

He looked at Sasuke, forcing the young man to meet his gaze before he turned to his headmistress, to the woman that meant far more to him than that professional relationship.

"Beacon is my home now. I have an obligation to defend everyone in it."

Sasuke understood it. Sympathized with it. But did he agree with it? What would his response be? He was being offered the chance to go home, no strings attached. He might have burned several bridges in his past, but in the end they were all mendable compared to the one that spanned their worlds now. He was not as emotionally nor intellectually invested in this universe as much as Naruto was. Or so he told himself.

He could go back. He could fix things. The journey to this faraway land was not for nothing, as he knew he had gained a sense of humility and even hard experience during their trials together. He could go back a new man, and do the right thing. Whatever that was.

But was that what he wanted? What awaited him back in his world, besides an overdue trip to the gallows? The ultimate goal of revenging his family by killing his brother, was no longer worth the price of admission. One deserved death wasn't worth so many innocents. For wasn't that what he was doing, by going back? Killing his connection to everyone here once and for all.

He should have known. He had known, what his answer would be.

"I…can't go back either." Glynda nodded solemnly, already having predicted this as well. But the offer needed to be made, so that the possibility left undone would never come between them.

"You don't have to stay here, though." She offered, while trying not to sound like she was driving him away. "Aurelia has already told me she would be happy to have you as her pupil for however long you wish."

"Content." The woman corrected her. "I said I would be content. You don't talk much. I like that." As if that was all the recommendation he needed.

Sasuke bit his lip until it bled, thinking the decision over in his head. In truth, the most recent journey with his master had been one of the most fulfilling times in recent memories. Despite the inherent harshness of the far north, there was little other cares that needed tending to besides training and survival. And even in the daily drudgery to keep themselves fed and clothed, there was a certain pleasure that he derived from the plebian tasks.

But it was lacking for companionship. A thought he might have found laughable several months prior, but now a hardened fact that he had yet to integrate into his life.

"Would you…." He swallowed the lump in is throat, tasting iron. "Would you have me, here?"

He could not help the glare which arrived as Naruto snorted and began to laugh uncontrollably. Abject misery fell upon him as the mocking sounds continued. He felt the shame billow to new heights as behind her desk, Glynda too started to titter behind a hand disguising it as a cough. When his own teacher barked out at wry chuckle he felt his threshold maxed out and spill over into incredulity.

"Baka…" Naruto wheezed out as he wiped away a tear. The turn of phrase, which spilled so easily form his distracted tongue did not go unnoticed by Sasuke. "Of course we want you here!" He stated emphatically, finally reigning control over himself. "And I thought I was supposed to be the idiot." Though he could not help one last jibe at the friend he had lost, and then found again.

"Moron….dobe." He found he had no more emotion left to express his relief, and just grinned wryly at his own foolishness.

"Yeah, you can be a bit hard to get along with at times." The blond Faunus started taking the measure of his person with his fingers. "You don't laugh at my jokes, you brood all the time, you have a terrible sense of taste…" As he continued, Sasuke closed his eyes and buried his chin in is cloak, shaking with both tears and laughter.

"But, despite all that…" He clapped a hand on the other young man's shoulder, making sure he looked up enough to meet his determined gaze. "Despite all that there's no one else I'd rather have here by my side."

"You and I…" Sasuke ground out past the shakes. "You and I get along pretty good, don't we?"

"Yeah, we do."

"And the devil makes tree." Aurelia muttered within Glynda's earshot while the other two shared their moment.

"You're not staying?" The headmistress posed curiously.

"Probably not. What would I be in this happy little family anyway?" She shook her head dismissively. "Nah, I'm not cut out for city life anyway."

"Beacon's technically not in the city." Glynda presented offhandedly, shrugging as she sat back down in her seat. "And besides, I could use an extra hand running this place now that we have a full-time student body."

"As what, your assistant?"

"Hopefully I wouldn't need you for that." She shook her head and offered the woman a seat, which to her surprise she accepted. "I was hoping more for a combat instructor. Lord knows I'll be too busy to teach the class anymore."

"Hmm." She seemed to genuinely mull the possibility over in her head before she turned back to the two teens, whose heartwarming banter had developed into playful roughhousing.

"That depends," She spoke at last. "if those two will be in my class."

Glynda smiled, shrugging as she leaned back in her chair, already confident of the answer.

"That ultimately depends on if they want to remain in the huntsman program here." Aside their conversation, the other two had devolved into a minor brawl, still clearly in good humor. "Somehow, I think that will probably be the case."

"You're probably right." She nodded, coming to the same conclusion. But then her green eyes narrowed and her tone dropped an octave. "What of the dangers, though? The people that will be coming after them and after you? You are the current keeper of the relic."

"Hmm." The singular grunt was accompanied by a smile, signifying nothing as the headmistress turned back to the wrestling match in her office. Aurelia raised an impressed eyebrow at the impressive poker face the woman had patiently crafted.

"For now," She said, resting her chin on her interlaced fingers. "we can let them be children for just a little bit longer, perhaps."

The other woman frowned, but did not dispute it. The time would come soon enough where the decision was made for them.

* * *

"I don't know, doesn't this all feel…kind of weird?"

"Hm? How so?"

The four young woman found themselves pacing down the halls they never thought they would see again, everything familiar but their own steps toward their dorm room strange. Ruby lead the way of course, insisting on her leaderly privileges that had languished during the break, while Yang and Weiss walked side by side behind.

"I understand what she means."

Blake said over their shoulders, for once her nose not buried in a book. Her eyes wandered the numbered plaques on the doors with an absent look as her mind was determined to be elsewhere. Weiss blinked and looked back, suddenly aware that she was not used to having the cat-Faunus join so easily in their conversations.

"It's spooky, the way everything has been restored to how it was."

Everyone, except for themselves. But nobody heard that dark thought which was issued in Ruby's head, and only heard her exclaim out loud when she had once again found their room number and bolt through the door in the blink of an eye, a noticeable lack of rose petals in her wake for anyone who was paying attention. But the group's focus was on their leader's antics, not her apparent improvement, nor how forced those antics might have been.

"You know, Ruby, I think that we are capable of finding the room on our own, it's the same one after all."

"NOOOO!"

The other three forced their way in almost as swiftly, a traffic jam at the transept being the only delay.

"What is it?! What's the matter?" Yang rushed into their reunited dorm room next to her inconsolable sister, going into a minor panic herself worrying about Ember Celica who would have been in her bags and already in the room before their arrival.

"Our bunk-beds!"

Ruby continued to cry fat tears as Yang and the others took notice of the chamber's furnishings for the first time. Though they had heard her decry the problem, there was nothing visibly wrong in any of their eyes with the way things were set up in the room. In fact, someone had taken the liberty of stacking the beds ahead of time, the legs nesting sturdily together with well-crafted dove-tail joints.

But it was true, their jerry-rigged trapeze and tower of babble had not been one of the things to come out of Beacon unscathed.

"Soooo… what's the problem exactly?"

"Someone replaced our bunk-beds!" Ruby continued to lament while even Yang rolled her eyes in exasperation.

"I think that's actually a good thing."

"Is everything alright in here?" The three woman minus Ruby turned back to the still open door to see the leader of team JNPR poking his head around the door frame.

"Yeah, everything is fine." Weiss sighed, immortally embaressed of her partner. "Ruby is just upset that our old room set-up is gone." Jaune blinked in confusion, not recognizing that any change had been made, but then remembered that he had been there the entire time.

"Oh, yeah! Naruto suggested to Glynda that the new dorm rooms should all get bunk-beds." He scratched the back of his head in a gesture that all of team RWBY recognized. "Frankly, I don't know why nobody did that before. It makes a lot more sense given the room size."

Jaune fell back on his rear as Ruby did a 180 and shot over at him, shoving her horrified and emaciated face into his.

"We did!"

"Ummm…okay…." The blond admitted from his vantage on the floor, not quite sure what the big deal was. He was relieved when his former crush plucked the near-rabid girl back by her hood and steered her into their room.

"Sorry about that. We'll take it from here." Ruby seemed to have lost all will to resist and well limp against Weiss's grip as she was dragged across the floor. Yang shot the young man a grin and a wave as she shut the door behind them.

"Catch you later Jauny-boy!"

The light was extinguished from the hall as the door slammed shut in his face and Jaune was left to lie there and pick his brain, trying to remember if this interaction was better or worse than it had been before the break. A few months away from social interactions might have turned him a little feral, but in the end he realized that team RWBY had always been that weird.

Then again, his team could not claim to be much better.

"Jaune?" He turned his head when he heard a soft melody call his name.

"Huh?"

"What are you doing out here in the hallway?" Pyrrha cocked her head in confusion, her smile never once faltering.

"Oh, um, just visiting team RWBY." Pyrrha gave a knowing chuckle as she extended an arm to him, pulling him to his feet easily.

"Well, maybe now you can spend some time with your own team now? We haven't seen you in nearly four months either." Even though it wasn't meant to, Jaune felt little pricks of guilt nibble at his chest in response to the statement. He had chosen to spend the entire extended summer at Beacon, but even if he hadn't he would not have seen the others during that time. Telling himself this though did nothing to alleviate the growing malady.

His partner resisted a frown, seeing this strange dynamic play over his face, and instead only brightened her smile, tugging their still intertwined hands down the hallway.

"Come one, Jaune. Ren promised Nora that he would make 'welcome back pancakes' when we moved back into the dorm." Jaune couldn't help the titter that came from his throat at the thought, especially seeing Pyrrha make specific quote marks with her hands around the name. He hadn't realized how much he had missed his team's personalities until now.

"'Welcome back pancakes'? How are those any different than the normal kind?" Though they had all had turns cooking throughout the course of the summer, they seldom had time for a proper breakfast and he found that he had a sudden hankering for the syrup-soaked disks, no matter what form they took.

Pyrrha just gave him a coy smile and with one hand still intertwined with his, one hand on the door handle she admitted him into the room filled with bright light, enticing fragrance, and hearty laughter.

"I guess we'll just have to find out, won't we?"

* * *

"I wonder if we're going to get new roommates?" Naruto toyed with the idea idly while staring at the two sets of nested beds in their dorm room. He found he wasn't abject to the idea, but at the same time was not as receptive of it as he might have thought he would be. The room would be short one body than he was used to. But it had one returned that had been absent, so it evened out.

"I guess we will just have to wait and see." Sasuke shrugged, seemingly engrossed in his unpacking. "We still don't know if we are even an official team, or even part of the student body for that matter."

Naruto overlooked the question of enrollment and took the time then to notice what his teammate brought along from his journeys, what the nomadic swordswoman had deemed crucial to possess in the wild north. What he pulled from the saddlebags were rudimentary and universally unadorned. Survival tools and equipment that he had been familiar with even before coming to Beacon, spare shirts of irregular shades that looked homespun or at the very least handstitched, a pair of heavy socks the width of his bicep and lastly, wrapped within those, a sharpening stone which he set by the curved blade he had worn on his hip, a near identical copy to the one first given to him by his teacher when they first met.

Naruto smiled seeing that, thinking on his own Puukko that were still his primary weapons. He might see Ruby about making him something else now that she was here, or at least modifying the knives with added features. But then again, maybe not, as there was something sacrilegious about complicating such a simple design. He was sure that Aurelia would gut him with them if she found out.

He noticed his mind had wandered and Sasuke had stopped unpacking the other saddlebag to look at him curiously.

"What is it?"

"Hm? Oh, nothing, sorry. Just thinking." Sasuke accepted this with a nod, turning back to his task but not restarting it immediately.

"Hey," He called out to the blond quietly, so quietly that Naruto making his way to the bathroom hardly heard it even with his augmented hearing. "Huh?" His ears lead his head around as he turned to face the noise. "What's up?"

"This all seems… familiar. Doesn't it?"

Naruto frowned at the vague question. It was uncharacteristic of the teen to be so forgetful. Even in the time they spent apart, he should not have forgotten that Naruto didn't retain the memories of the first extenuating circumstances that landed them at Beacon. Though he had been recounted them second hand, it wasn't the same thing as experiencing them. And the 'experience' that he thought he remembered, that took its place, was more emotion than fact and so did not count when admitting a sense of déjà vu.

And yet, if he thought about it, he found he did sense a familiar feeling in the way things had been playing out. Even though he was sure none of them had been in this time and place before, it was as if he knew the story from here on out, in some lucidly archetypal way.

"Yeah." He admitted after a moment of silence. "Yeah, it kinda does."

"It's not. But still, let's…try not to make the same mistakes again." Sasuke never looked up from where his hands still rummaged through the second saddlebag, and Naruto got the distinct impression he was talking more to himself than to him.

"Well, I'm going to need your help with that." Naruto laughed hollowly, taking a stab at his own shortcoming, as he was more and more seeing the memory loss.

"And I will need yours." He finally looked over at Naruto who for the first time noticed the deep bags running underneath his eyes, more like bruises than simple fatigue. Naruto felt any feelings of self-pity fly out the open window in remembrance of the underlying issue.

"Don't worry Sasuke." Naruto spoke sternly as he crossed the room and placed his hand on his friend's shoulder, gripping it sternly. "You have my word that we will find what's wrong with you, and we will fix it. And you know I never go back on my word."

"I know." Sasuke replied with a smile and rye laugh, standing up from his bed to face his comrade in arms. "What I need is for you to help me keep mine."

* * *

How had he done it, anyway? How did he continue to do it, year in, year out, semester after semester without fail? Sure, some years were easier than others, of that she could herself attest to. But to every time out of the blue do so well at it?

If it were a procedure, it would have been easy for her. Some people complained about paperwork, whereas she would rather deal with forms than any number of people she could list offhand. Ozpin had complained about the paperwork, never finishing it on time and leaving it to her to either hound him until he capitulated, or do it herself before it became moot.

Even with all the beginning-of-the-year boilerplate, including introducing a new teacher to the payroll, it had gone smoothly and without distraction. Glynda had to admit, without him here things got done far more rapidly and with a never before seen efficiency that she was done with the necessaries even before the sun had set.

Or rather, would have been done if she had left the candidate list alone and simply retreated to her room with a good book and a pair of earplugs. Instead, here she was once again locked up in the tower well past all prudent hours. She had long ago bid the returning class goodnight, and had seen the potential freshmen off to bed.

And yet here she was still, aimlessly scrolling through the bios of each and every student that had passed the preliminary entrance exam. And, like before, nothing jumped out at her. There were no Pyrrha Nikos's nor Weiss Schnees amongst their ranks to set any of them apart from all the rest. And yet, each and every one had qualified to be here. But the question was, which ones truly **deserved** to attend?

She sighed and dropped the tablet-scroll on the wood desk, wincing slightly at the louder than intended thump it had made. She automatically tried to stifle a yawn, but realizing she was alone, let it flood through her weary body. She was no good at judging the hidden characters of people. She would have to simply let tomorrow's final exam whittle down the numbers for her. She was going to bed, so that she could be ready come the day's activities.

She began to push away from the sturdy work surface but stopped with her hands grasping the knurled edge.

"What do you want, Qrow?"

"I have to hand it to you, you're getting better at sensing me." The man applauded silently, stepping out from the rooms many corners where the tiny desk-lamp didn't shine. "Must be from hanging out with those ninja all the time. Still, you couldn't for once give me a proper greeting?"

"I will," Glynda narrowed her eyes as the man sauntered over and plopped himself down in the chair across from her. "once you make a proper entrance." She lamented her decision not to go to bed sooner, but sat back down regardless. Despite his aloof attitude, Qrow did not play idle visits, and the last one he graced her with didn't bear the best of news.

"Well, excuse me if I'm not one for fanfare."

"Using the door hardly counts as a production." She said with as much humor as she could muster. She tried her best to demean herself to a social banter, but quickly found she had no more patience left to spare after a day of pandering to self-important politicians, and, even worse, concerned parents. "Now, what are you doing here?"

To her surprise, the man dropped his casual posture, shifting in his seat so that both feet were on the floor and he was sitting straight up in front of her like an attentive student.

"Look, I may not seem like it, but I understand what has been going on. And I want you to know that I take full responsibility."

Glynda blinked in the suddenly too bright lamplight, wondering if she had fallen asleep reading the student debriefings after all.

"What?"

He took the disbelieving tone with a patient sigh, planting his hands on his knees as he leaned forward.

"It's not what you expect of me, I get it. I haven't exactly set myself a good precedent, but you can't deny that I have always come through when needed."

"Last minute, continuously complaining, with ample leverage and recompense, and let's not forget **drunk**." She enumerated the requisites one had to expect when dealing with Qrow, not denying that he had his own level of efficiency much like Ozpin did. "And let's not forget, you never did those things for me."

Though he tacitly agreed with her assessment thus far, even nodding in admission to the accusations, the last one struck him like a blow to the chest, and his hands tightened painfully on his legs.

"Yeah I know." He admitted to the polished wood floor at his feet. "And I can't guarantee that it won't be like that again, hell I promise you that I will be smashed on the job more than I will sober," Finally he raised his head and she was taken aback by the willful look she found there. "but I also promise you that I won't fail you. I promise that I will be by your side, not because of some mutual dead friend, but because of the mutual interests we share, because of **our** friendship."

Glynda found herself smiling at the earnest, and quite frankly naively blunt promise made by the veteran huntsman who had more reason than most to be nihilistic about life. It reminded her too much of someone else for her to be able to simply laugh it off.

"Our friendship?" She questioned with a muted smile. "Since when did we become friends?"

Qrow smiled, luckily not taking her sarcasm the wrong way.

"Since Ozpin introduced us all those years ago, remember?"

"Yeah," her smile faded upon the admission "I remember."

A somber tone leveled over the two of them as Glynda's fingers traced the worn recesses in the wood in front of her. Suddenly though she snapped back from lofty introspection and fixed him with a calculating gaze.

"As much as I appreciate the pep-talk, that can't be the sole reason you decided to drop by in the middle of the night."

"Why not?" He let a sarcastic grin spread across his stubbled face, a much more familiar expression for a talk that was going into fairly uncomfortable territory. "Nighttime's the best time to have a heart-to-heart." But then he too adopted a calculative expression as he got down to business.

"But no, you're right, I didn't come purely for a social visit, and I'm not just here because I saw my nieces off this morning." Glynda nodded in acknowledgement, urging him to spill the news that he so obviously had.

"Now I will admit, I haven't had a whole lot of time these days to prowl about on my normal beats. That being said, I took a few days off from training with Ruby a week or so back to pop my head into Vale, check up and see how the city was recovering."

"And?" She herself had been far too busy, and in all honestly had been avoiding, any frivolous trips into the town.

"And it's been…weird." He shook his head trying to clear his thoughts so Glynda did not press him. "I can't quite explain it, but everything seems off within the city."

"How so?" Even if he lacked the words to quantify the atypical behavior, at the very least maybe she could understand circumstantial evidence.

"The crime rates aren't up, but there seems to be a coordination within the underground. If there's a purpose to it, I can't tell. Hell, it doesn't even seem like they are working together, more like, working around one another. It's like the gangs in and around Vale are in a cold war of sorts, and the police seem to be in on it."

That was reason enough to worry. They had never had to worry much about corruption in Vale, just ineffectiveness. But if the police were now in any way abetting criminal behavior, then even they, in their extra-political status would be compromised.

"So you think there's a central conspiracy?"

"Maybe." He admitted, but shook his head a moment later. "It's almost impossible to tell. It's like they're playing some kind of game with one another, keeping one another occupied. Gang knocks off a jewelry shop, gets busted, then gets bailed out the next day on a technicality."

"You think it's a smokescreen for something else?"

"Again, it could be but I don't have enough evidence either way. It's just strange that everything seems so active, yet nothing is happening."

The two sat in contemplation, mulling over this information as the familiar sound of gears grinding against one another and the pendulum swinging in constant pace in the background filled in the silence. Finally though, the headmistress broke the silence, aware that they were neither one of them going to solve the potential non-issue that night.

"Well, in any case, thanks for bringing it to my attention, Qrow."

"Of course," He nodded and stood up slowly, knowing his que to leave. "In any case, now that I don't have to babysit the brats anymore, I should have some more time to prowl around. Maybe I'll pop on up to Atlas and see if our other buddy has anything to say about it. See if the General has any problems in his corner of the world."

"Try not to mention me if you see him." Glynda grimaced after standing and rubbing her eyes with the back of her hands. "We didn't exactly part on the best of terms."

Despite that, she would have thought that he would have attended the inauguration ceremony that day, if for no other reason than political clout. But his absence had been of particular notice to her, and did not likely signal anything good. Either he was really annoyed with her, which she couldn't rightly blame him for, or there was some other problem going on up north like Qrow had suggested. Either way, she might have to give the man a call soon regardless.

"Don't worry, I'll be discreet." He waved her off over his shoulder, making his way over to the ajar window.

"Qrow." His name being the only word spoken, he turned his head to see why she had called him back. He deflated when he saw her pointing at the waiting elevator with a patient expression on her face.

"Seriously?" Her expression didn't waver.

"Fine, fine, just this once." He turned around and made for the open door, shoulders slouched and hands shoved into his pockets. Glynda smiled behind his back, reveling in her minute victory. She even thought she heard him mutter like a child when he passed by her desk.

"You never let me have any fun."

She let her arm drop and sighed as soon as the pneumatic doors hissed shut, and collapsed back in her seat. She fought against leaded eyelids to glance at the small gilded clock on her desk, and saw that she had only a scant few hours until she had to get back up again to get things ready for the final test.

"Screw it."

With that simple resignation, she took off her glasses, setting them carefully on the desk and began to recline the increasingly comfortable chair as much as possible. She stopped, though, as through the blur she spied a red and black object where the guest chair should have been. She blinked and squinted her eyes, finally recognizing that it was, incredulously enough, Qrow's cloak that he had left behind draped over the back of the chair. She stared intensely at it for a few seconds before leaning across the desk and snatching the garment up.

"Mine."

It was surprisingly warm, or she was just that tired. Either way, it made a decent blanket to wrap herself up in as she kicked her high heels off and popped her feet up on the desk. The only problem ended up being its smell, as it still reeked of cheap liquor and even cheaper cologne, along with a mild musk that was the least officious of all the stenches.

But in the end, she was too tired to complain about it, and even less inclined to remove it. And so she fell asleep at her desk once again, a strangely familiar feeling for her, as her sleep ran wild with unfamiliar dreams, of a far off land with strange and fearful things upon its shores.

* * *

For others, sleep did not come so easily. Though they lay in beds far cozier than an office chair, their nights were anything but comfortable as they feverously tossed and turned in synch across the hallway from one another, neither aware of the invisible strings which ran between them. And yet, both still acutely aware of some disquiet which was uniquely theirs to share.

The mise-en-abyme progressed silently from there. For within one of the two plagued by insomnia, something else yet stirred. It awakened from its slumber sensing the unfamiliar but nostalgic presence outside the fleshy walls which kept it bound. It uncoiled itself in its cave buried deep within its restless host, feeling the discomforted motions like seismic vibrations through the chamber's walls, warning it of the cataclysmic events to come.

The plagues it would precipitate, the disasters it would reign in, now that it was reunited with the key to its lock.


	7. Walking on Burning Coal

**I'm back, and right on time! And yes, several other chapters are already pretty much ready and waiting to go. To be honest, was a little worried about this one since I noticed that not a lot of action seems to be happening, but fret not, the plot is progressing and the pace will increase in the coming segments. I just had to get some of these more important sentimental scenes out of the way. But fortunately, from what some of you say, you like that. So enjoy.**

 **Once again I wish to express my thanks to all those who review, and even to those who give me their tacit support. I couldn't have done it without you. I tried to answer all of your reviews personally, but I feel like I may have missed some. If I somehow neglected you, forgive me, and try asking a more direct question in the future so I know if you expect the 'personal touch'.**

 **And to continue on with the disclaimer about important issues in this, I just want to disclose something before we go in here. When I reference Winter's prior positions in the Atlas military, I am drawing from real life scenarios of South Africa during the Apartheid. So if any of you are confused as to what I am getting at, I would suggest looking that up, especially if you don't know about that in general.**

 **If you have read my other story, you will know that I do not claim to be political in any way, so please do not take it that way now. I think I make my positions very clear if one just reads what is there.**

* * *

"So do you think they do this every year?"

The familiar gang, recast in the roles of second-year students, gathered in the cafeteria to watch their prospective peers line up on the green hills overlooking the Emerald Forest. The sight invoked both pleasant and disagreeable memories all around. It was uncanny watching the familiar scene unfold like a scripted film in front of them, the changes so minor it might have been an out of body experience.

"You're asking if we watched you guys from the live feed security cams last year?" The stylish leader of Team CFVY responded to Yang's question with another of her own. She tried her best to appear bored with the proceedings, but was herself sneaking furtive glances at the monitors spread out against the long side of the room, disguising her action while filing her nails. Each one of the half-dozen screens showing a drone's unique perspective, each one showing the dozens of exited, scared, aloof and confused faces which might once have been theirs.

"I can't speak for any of the upperclassmen, but we didn't have this last year."

"Huh, wonder why?"

"Hm."

While the two boisterous females loudly made small talk sitting on the table above them, Sasuke expressed his equal intrigue with a mere grunt, never once taking his eyes from the monitors. Sitting next to him on the bench, Naruto split his attention between the projected images and the bowl of noodles in his lap. Nonetheless, he was paying more attention to the goings on around him more than anyone would give him credit for.

"Yeah, I wonder why nobody ever thought of this before." Naruto nodded approvingly while clipping off a long strand with his chopsticks and slurping it up into his mouth with a wet snap. "This is better than a movie. We get to sit inside nice and warm while getting to see the noobs make fools of themselves."

"You forget that you lot were the freshmen not too long ago." Coco chided him, swatting the back of his head and making him whip a mouthful of noodles into his face.

"I haven't forgotten." Naruto growled exasperatingly, perhaps more sharply than intended. "In fact, that's the reason I can enjoy myself now, because I know how much it sucked getting thrown off that cliff!"

"Can't argue about that." Jaune chimed in, helping himself to a second batch of pancakes that Ren had begrudgingly agreed to make for their late breakfast. Under duress of course, and the penalty of Nora throwing a tantrum: aka certain death.

"I don't think it's because nobody ever thought of doing this before." Blake's subdued voice carried out over Sasuke's other shoulder, her eyes too watching the far-off scene with a predatory casualness as she stretched her back out on the tabletop. "They've always had the drones watching the exam, at least they did when we went through it."

"Hn. It's probably because Ozpin didn't want to breed a hierarchy within the grades." Sasuke deduced. He likened it to the Jonin and Chunin exams back in Konoha. One was a public event, designed to show off skills to challenge the other nations. The other was private for the protection of the participants. Now it was for the weaker among them instead of the strongest, but the concept was the same.

"By having us actively attend the security footage screening, we are more apt to look competitively at the incoming classes, rather than meeting them in a social setting."

"I wonder why's Goodwitch doing it now?" His blond companion mused to himself and the general audience, brows knit, and lips twisted slightly, as if his sacred ramen had just turned fowl.

"Can't say."

Sasuke shrugged, apparently having gotten bored or hungry enough to get up in time for a gap in the que to get flapjacks. He had never been good at guessing what was going through Glynda's mind, another reason he was glad to be under the tutelage of Aurelia instead. The headmistress didn't strike him as the type of person to want to mold the school into a dog-eat-dog arrangement. But she had in the past stressed the importance of responsibility and maturity among the huntsmen to be.

"I guess she just decided it was time for a change."

That, none of them could argue. For they all knew that despite appearances, nothing would be the same again.

"Hey, Naruto?" Seeing him polish off the last of his breakfast bowl, and a free space open up with the departure of Sasuke, Ruby sidled around the other side of her team to sit adjacent to the young man.

Though he was cheerful at first to be favored by her presence, he hadn't yet had a chance to talk to after their time apart and was a little embarrassed for that negligence. The distracted look on her face worried him as well, informing him to clear disappointment that this was no mere social call.

"Morning Ruby, what's up?"

"Can I- can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Uh, sure, of course."

Unknown to the two teens, the conversation around them stopped. At least until they both got up and left, and then it reignited with a furor of carousing. Yang gleefully celebrating her sister's maturation into womanhood whilst planning ways to extort it for her own gain. Others argued that the covert chat was purely platonic and natural among separated friends. And yet another faction maintained the merits of both while staying on the other side of the fence and tuning out the gossip. But all had lost focus on the screens in front to focus on the latest potential gossip.

Some hid their curiosity better than others. And even as Sasuke took a careful bite of his optimally glazed pancake, he watched the two leave with more than a token interest. He met Blake's eyes too, and realized they were held in the same worried furrow. Neither acted on their suspicions, though, even if they had plenty of opportunity to do so with everyone discoursing at the top of their lungs around them.

Sasuke merely sat back down in his seat next to her while disinterestedly parting out another bite of his breakfast with his fork. Her frown deepened seeing his commitment to inaction, but could not bring herself to disagree with this decision. She was sure Ruby would feel the need to tell her if she needed to know, eventually. Hopefully.

For the sake of the young man next to her, she hoped Naruto felt the same.

The two had left down the side corridor, walking aimlessly side by side a hand's width apart.

"Well, I guess you were right." Naruto chuckled lamely while rubbing the back of his shaggy hair. "Here we are again. Feels like just yesterday we… it all happened."

"Yeah," Ruby nodded, automatically agreeing with the teen while never meeting his eyes. Naruto felt ashamed that he could not pin down the reason for the girl's clear depression. His hind brain meanwhile warning him that he had committed a faux pas without noticing it, and he should tread lightly over the likely mined ground.

"It's… really good to see you again." He ventured with sincerity, trying to send out an olive branch across an unknown divide. "I missed you." He added softly as he continued to walk on ahead without noticing his surroundings, hands shoved defensively in his pockets. He realized only half a beat later that the girl had stopped walking with him.

"A-and the others as well!" He amended quickly, thinking he had overstepped a boundary with the introverted scythe-wielder. The last he had seen of her, of any of them, it had seemed like they had all parted on good terms. Was she upset that he hadn't been more attentive to her the other day? He still wasn't sure what defined their relationship, and in none of his experience, real or vicarious did he pretend to understand personal affairs.

"I-" He heard her mutter then stop, and so dared to take a step back towards her, getting within striking distance. But still he couldn't read her expression which accompanied the pained voice, staring at the floor. "I missed you too." She said at last, and at last looked back up at him, a sad smile on her face.

"What's wrong, Ruby?" He asked, suddenly rife with concern surpassing that for his own being. Taking another half-step closer, he tried to rest a hand on her shoulder. "Did I do something wrong? Did somebody else? Whatever it is, whoever it is, tell me, and I promise you I'll deal with it." Oh, if only he could take away her pain. He felt the negative emotions so strongly within himself that he might as well be living from the same nerve endings, the same synapsis that moved her to the brink of tears forcing him too by their invisible hand.

This declaration brought a chuckle out of the dark-haired girl. But it wasn't a joyous sound by any means.

"I wish you could."

She placed her hands on top of his, keeping it cemented there against her imagined fears, against the possibility that what she had to tell him would drive him away.

It had been his burden, not too long ago, and for far longer than it had been hers. But with no memory of the hardship, only knowledge, would he still be able to keep his promise? Could he empathize with her and commiserate with her, and ease her burden? Or was telling him a mistake that would sever the bond between them permanently? What good what it do, anyway? The Fox was with her now, and there was little chance that they could convince it to leave her alone.

But what of her conviction? She had decided days ago that she needed to tell him of the sudden and dramatic shift in both their lives. She understood that keeping it secret wouldn't work, and in the long run would only hurt them all. Secrets always would. All of them new that now. So why couldn't she form the words?

"I can. I will."

She felt his other hand rest on her shoulder as he squared himself to face her. "I know I'm not the same person as I once was. I'm probably not as good as he was." He looked aside suddenly, exposed to the glaring shame he felt for that fact.

But from everything that he had heard, that was probably the truth. The shinobi Naruto had been the dead last of his class, and still leagues ahead of all the students at Beacon. He had to fight tooth and nail just to get back to decent fighting order, and even then, his partner had eclipsed his every accomplishment. He didn't resent him for it of course, nor did he resent his past self for setting the bar so high. He just lamented that he couldn't protect his friends as well as he once might have been able to.

"But…I give you my word that whatever it is that's bothering you, I'll do everything within my power to make things better." Even knowing his inadequacies would not prevent him from honoring this promise. The promise was his truth, perhaps the only one he really knew.

She didn't need him to tell her that, but still it helped to hear it. But still it felt like she was woman approaching the gallows. It was time to get it over with.

"Naruto…."

He was confused, and more than a little embarrassed when she let go of his hand to lift up the hem of her shirt, exposing the skin of her stomach, as tight as a drum head. But abashed thoughts were exiled as soon as the garment passed above her navel. The web of symbols as dark as a bruise took his breath away and he stared in abject shock and even horror. For he could not help but recognize the symbol. Inscribed on that virgin flesh were lines as familiar as those on the palm of his own hand.

"What the…." He couldn't bring his mouth to form the question nonetheless ambient in the air.

"I am the new container for the Kyuubi."

* * *

Sasuke sat behind the desk with a bored look on his face. But in truth was anything but. Everything was as it should be in that school, that academic vanguard. Everything the same as it had been many times before. But it couldn't become mundane, they could not become complacent. Not yet at least, for although everything was the same, so too was it different.

Everything was so close to the way it had been it was scary. The sights, the smells, even the ringing of the brass bell at the end of each period was the same as every other classroom there had ever been. It was the same that had been in the academy back in Konoha, as well as the one in Goodwitch's class.

But this wasn't Glynda's combat class anymore. It was Aurelia's. This wasn't the same stage which had born so many students' falls and victories. These weren't the walls which had been honed by calloused hands. And the faces, young and impressionable, were no longer unmarred as they stared intently on their new instructor not with boredom, but cautious restraint.

And there was more amiss. He couldn't concentrate on his respected instructor as she addressed the class as a whole, could not take pleasure in her speech causing a few weaker souls to wet themselves.

Not when something was so clearly wrong with his comrade. Sasuke may have but arrived after several months away, but he still could have spotted the abnormal behavior from halfway across the world, let alone across the room.

He had decided when Naruto left with Ruby during breakfast that he would give the young man space, give him time enough to get used to his company again, appreciate his being there. He was starting to regret that decision. Ruby looked equally bothered by whatever had passed between them, but she had her sister by her side to provide moral support. And here he was, with the other members of Team RWBY instead of with the person who needed him.

"She seems pretty no-nonsense." Blake whispered carefully to him and Weiss regarding their new instructor, the latter gulped and nodded at the understatement.

Registering the comment, Sasuke merely nodded, not trusting his voice to be quiet enough to go unnoticed by the huntress. He wasn't too keen on his master interrupting his thoughts at that moment with her usual subtlety.

Blake glanced furtively at him, and followed his gaze to the two spots his focus flicked between. She had long since picked up on the underlying tension that had been blatantly hanging about ever since the two younger teens had returned from their 'chat'.

In fact, she had sniffed out Ruby's buried concern far before that. Ruby had tried to hide it with her usual antics, but the fear and sorrow had hung about her like a toxic cloud in the eyes of the Faunus, hidden emotions like a brassard to those who could smell them.

"Sasuke," She whispered his name softly trying to get his attention.

"Sasuke." His head which began to lean over to her whipped back to the front at the icy address which sent a shiver down his spine.

"Yes ma'am." He answered back regimentally. Almost too quickly, like a guilty child's denial. He very well could have been, as the militant woman stared back with a calculating look which laid bare conspiracies and made Blake want to confess to things she hadn't even considered yet. Elsewhere in the benches, Jaune cowered, trying to make himself as small as possible.

"Why don't you get down here and give the new students a demonstration."

He stood to comply but paused when making his way to the stair steps.

"What would you like me to demonstrate?" She arched a piqued eyebrow at his obvious delay tactic, and so he amended it quickly. "So that I know whether or not I need my gear."

How she could sense his impatience he would ever know. But as soon as he asked that innocuous request for clarification, she sent him a smirk that said he would be busy for the rest of the class time, and that she would give him something to occupy his harried mind.

"I want to show them how I run my class. Help me show them how I expect you to fight."

Sasuke felt his stomach drop as he took another delayed step down to the arena. He knew what that phrase stood for. She always expected the same thing out of students regardless of fights or spars.

You fought tooth and nail, for your life.

* * *

Every day was a struggle to survive. Tooth and nail scraped pennies together under the nose at the grindstone. Every day he worked for what meager pittance came to him, no matter how small. And each day he was as hungry, as cold, as tired as the last.

It really was a dog's life.

He laughed grimly even as his whip-like tail tucked between his legs, a passerby snapping at him for daring to make himself noticeable above the flotsam. It wasn't bad enough that he was no better than the refuse which accumulated in the lowest part of the gutters, he couldn't even rustle as they did. Every sound brought the ire of his 'neighbors', the denizens of those gutters in the dirtiest parts of Vale.

Vale wasn't all that bad for Faunus, just as it wasn't so bad for humans, or so he had been told. But every city had its slums, and he had never seen the greener side of the grass promised to him by authorities both official and criminal. The silver lining on the clouds was hidden by the towering buildings around him, allowing only rain to reach through its spiny metallic fingers to drown him in his depression.

One thing about being at rock bottom- you didn't have much farther to fall.

"Hey, kid."

Who was he talking to? He had never been addressed as such in the decade of time he had spent in this world. He had always been trash, or at most, an animal, never raised to such a lofty level to be given personality.

"Kid, I'm talking to you, kid. Come on, I know you're not deaf. Are you hurt? Can you walk?"

What were all these questions? No one as far as he knew had ever taken such an interest in his life. There was no reason for now to be any different, so he eyed the stranger with a healthy skepticism and no little fear, not daring to emerge from his cardboard box for what could very well be a cruel ploy.

"Look, kid, it's alright, I'm a cop. See?"

He saw the shiny metal badge flash across the far opening, too clean to be anything that came from his world. But he had seen such things before, and they never portended anything good. Shiny things were wealth, shiny things were power, shiny things were blades lurking in dark allies waiting to excise him of what little he had left.

"You're not in trouble. I'm not here to hurt you. I just want to talk. I'll even pay you. Are you hungry? I have some food here, we can get some more but I need you to come out so we can talk."

The protein bar crinkled in front of the legs plastered with gray trousers that had planted themselves outside his hovel. The wrapper crinkled just like the trash that rode the cold evening breeze and cut through his bones which rubbed against his threadbare shirt. But it wasn't trash. It was life.

"Come on kid. I'm not going to bite."

No, there was little chance of that. He was a human, not a Faunus. Fat faced and with a kindly hue in his cheek. Not at all like the stony-jawed detectives which routinely prowled around Vale's underside and strong-armed their way to their goals just like the criminals they sought. They always found enough of thsoe down here, expecting the worst, and never being disappointed.

"There we go. See? I'm not so bad, right?"

The enforcer saw the softly glowing eyes stare fearfully out at him from the dark depths of the cavernous box. He didn't often stray down into the lower ends of Vale. Not out of fear, but of pity. Vagrant children like this reminded him of his own son. And there were just too many of them these days. The bar he offered now, and even the promise of a meal later would feed but one of them for a day. It wasn't even a chip on the monument of mistakes the politicians of the kingdom had built in their negligence.

But the food was honest as his will. And it as real as his empathy.

"I just want to talk, alright? So why don't you take the bar, and then we can go somewhere and get something more."

He saw the eyes dim in the shadow which fell across the opening, and quickly sought to correct his mistake.

"Or if you prefer, we can stay here and chat. I just want to know if you've seen anything-"

Something other than the eyes flashed in the darkness and the food dropped out of his limp grip. Red droplets pattered down all around and on top of it. His crouched knees wobbled and he felt a chill creep through his skin and down into his bones.

"What are you-?"

The small fist gripping the glass shard drew back and thrust again into his chest. Again. And again. And again. It clattered to the cold hard ground, next to the forgotten bar which had joined the other piles of trash in that filthy ally. The policeman's body dropped next to it, so much the same.

It was a dog eat dog world out there. She had told him so, and had been right. She was always right. Gods always were.

* * *

"I hope you were able to enjoy your time off with your sister."

General Ironwood expressed without having to turn away from his monitor, and without emoting the sentiment. Winter could already tell that he was distracted, yet highly alert, indicating that something important was on his mind. Courtesies which he afforded her as his favorite soldier would come second, if at all.

"Yes, sir, I did. She has returned to Beacon and I have been assured that she will be well taken care of."

She had checked and double checked the security protocols around the rebuilt school herself, and was reasonably satisfied with them.

The general nodded absently.

"I certainly hope so."

"As do I." A new voice broadcast from the darkened corner of the room.

Winter jumped slightly, blade half-way out of its scabbard when she recognized the voice that had appeared out of nowhere. And even then, almost drew it the rest of the way regardless.

"What are you doing here?" She hissed out, not catching on to her superior's lack of surprise as she took a threatening step at the lackadaisical man who held his hands out in flimsy defense of his person. Even if he had his weapon, he would not reach for it. There was a time and a place for games, but this was not it.

"Qrow came to me a few hours ago, looking for information." Ironwood admitted, finally turning around from his computer screen to face the two on opposite ends of the room so that both could see the weary recesses under his eyes shadowed by the monitor's soft glow.

"So what is he still doing here?" Winter questioned her superior officer cautiously, but with no small amount of spite showing through. She was now more able to tolerate his presence after what he had done for her and for Beacon, but she still could not see eye to eye with the man. And having him spontaneously show up in the secure military facility was not conducive to her patience.

"I'm here to bring you back to Vale." Qrow sighed wearily, already anticipating the vehement protest that would arise from this statement. There was no good way to break the news. Luckily for him, however, the general killed his subordinate's outburst with a stern look and a subtle gesture.

"Qrow came here originally because he had some suspicions about a possible resurgence of activity from **her**." Winter froze at this statement, loosely restrained protest vanishing as she tensed up and regarded her commander with an analytic gaze.

"And?" Her question ignored the other man in the room. But despite that it was Qrow who answered.

"Originally, I was just going to pop up and ask some questions of Jimmy here," Winter narrowed her eyes at the casual nature of his address to the military leader, but Ironwood himself didn't seem bothered by it. "Just to see if the same sort of strange behavior was happening in Atlas that's going on in Vale." He didn't yet bother to elaborate on what he qualified as 'strange behavior', and instead just ran an idle hand through his bedhead, sighing as he did so. Winter noticed that he had not been getting much sleep either, and looked worse than usual.

"Just before I left, one of my police contacts that I asked to do some snooping around the slums of Vale got himself stabbed to death." The man looked especially bitter to admit that, and the Lieutenant found herself scorning his sentimentality. The man was a police officer, and that kind of end was not to be unexpected in his line of work. But still, she knew instinctively that she would not feel quite the same if it was one of her fellow soldiers that had died for a tidbit of information.

"And you think they're connected." Winter surmised, though she had yet to see any evidence for this obtuse conclusion, other than the fact that it was brought up in the first place. Qrow nodded somberly.

"Last thing anyone knew, he said he was going down-town to poke around the gutters and question some of the street rats." That made sense, the disenfranchised youth that hung out down there tended to see a lot, and could be bought with minimal effort.

"So, one of the gangs caught him snooping around and decided he was after them, then decided to cover their backs."

Winter shrugged, knowing the scenario herself from time spent in Atlas's more dangerous ghettos, when riots broke out and the military was called in to restore order.

"It just sounds like they would be the ones you are after." As far as she was concerned, what the man was describing was an internal conflict, something Glynda had made patently clear she didn't want their military involvement in.

"It would seem like that," Qrow conceded, nodding. "Except that he was stabbed at a shallow angle in the chest, multiple times with a piece of glass that was found by the body."

Winter cringed, understanding the situation more fully. But still, it wasn't totally unexpected. Not to her, at any rate. She had seen the signs of desperation first hand, and seen the results of people pushed too far. Even children could be made to kill, if desparate enough.

In her own service to the Kingdom, time and again she had voiced her concerns and just such circumstances with reports to the civilian government of Atlas, and even vocally to her father. But time and again the deteriorating situation within the Faunus-populated districts stayed its retrograde course. Things hadn't gotten better after she left.

"I guess even Vale has its darker parts." She muttered lowly without accusation. Still the huntsman heard her and nodded grimly.

"Yeah, that it does." Despite the finality of the statement, Qrow had more disturbing news yet to reveal. "The thing is too, after stabbing him, the kid just left the food he was being offered as a reward." Winter found her eyebrows knitted together as she wrapped her head around this odd bit of info. "We also can't find hide nor hair of the kid that witnesses described. We have a description as well as a name, but can't seem to turn up any trace of him now."

The prodigal Schnee felt herself becoming intertwined in the details of this drawn out explanation, and shook herself to be rid of the cobwebs tying her down from seeing the bigger picture.

"Forgive me, but I mean, so what? Yeah, it's horrible and a downright shame, but what do you want me to do about it? The incident is over and done with, and I'm not a police officer, so I don't have jurisdiction in Vale. What do you think I can do?"

"It's precisely the fact that you are not a police officer that they need you." Ironwood spoke up again at last, rising laboriously from his seat and began pacing the room. "You see, this isn't an isolated incident."

"I went back and took a look at police records." Qrow admitted, grimacing. "The hard copies, not the electronic. It took me a while, but I found out that there's a lot more going on than I originally thought.

"Corruption is nothing new, even in Vale, but what's strange is how wide-spread the discrepancies are, and yet it's all very shallow. No one implicated too high up."

"Whatever it is, it's tainting the system with a wide brush." The general supplied, expressing his own view after analyzing the records himself. "And from what Qrow says, it's not just limited to the police force, but the criminal organizations as well. Many more incidents of double-crossing, and strangely enough, more isolated incidents of philanthropy and mercy on the criminal end."

"What…what on earth is going on?" Winter looked between the two with confusion and concern to match the overall mood.

"That's just it, we have no idea. Everything about the data just seems random, chaotic. If this is Salem, she's taking a novel new approach, and frankly playing much nicer than she has in the past."

"But that's why I'm sending you." Winter blinked at this, even more surprised perhaps than she had been before.

"You're sending me, sir?" The man nodded and gestured to the Branwen.

"Yes. I suggested Qrow bring you in on this as an outside observer, and your experience in dealing with the Townships." She frowned at that. Her experience back then had not been the best, to put it mildly. It was perhaps one of the main reasons she had become so jaded. She was a good soldier, but that didn't mean that she didn't question things she had done.

"You have reason to be in Vale as well." He continued. "Even if it is just for a few weeks at first, to say that you are checking on the security for you sister's sake. If your preliminary report there finds anything, I'm sure we can arrange something with Beacon's headmaster, to give you a visa to stay longer." Both of them noticed how Ironwood carefully avoided using Glynda's name.

Winter sighed, sensing what seemed to be the end of the conversation. Not that she wasn't in agreement with her superior. It was probably the most prudent course of action if Salem was at all reactive in Vale. But at the same time, she worried about her own home country and people, though would have to trust that Ironwood could take care of it without her assistance.

It seemed she would be going back to Vale. Again.

Once she left, the two men discussed similar thoughts.

"Will you be able to handle things here in Atlas?" Qrow questioned, not intending to doubt the man, but worried that the problem they had stumbled upon was more endemic than they supposed. The general nodded assuredly as he busied himself checking things on a data pad.

"Yes. I have gone through great pains to root out the leaks in my command. But still, I will lead the investigation here in Atlas personally. We cannot afford to have undue panic spread, as much as we cannot afford for this to overlooked."

"But who will do your duties then if I'm taking the Ice Queen?" Ironwood chuckled hollowly at the nickname.

"Winter is my most skilled and trusted subordinate, but she is not irreplaceable. There are plenty of other officers chomping at the bit for my job. I can let them take on some of the duties while I am otherwise engaged."

"Just be careful, Jimmy. We need you in the position you are in now. It would do no good for any of us if you were demoted or lost your influence." Ironwood sighed, nodding as he set down the data pad and massaged his temples.

"It's a dangerous game, to be sure. But have a little faith in me. I haven't survived this long without knowing how to play along." Qrow nodded reluctantly, but could offer no sound advice in this case, so turned to leave through the door he came in.

"Right, but just remember that this is one game I don't think any of us can afford to lose. Well, better check and see if the princess is ready." He ducked out of the room and left the solemn General by himself.

Once alone, he made his way over to the small bar his office had for entertaining guests, and carefully poured out two fingers of scotch in two identical glasses. Raising one to his lips, he held the crystal tumbler aloft in a toast to the picture on his desk of three, very much younger figures whom he hardly recognized anymore.

"Here's to you, Oz." He knocked his head back and downed half the viscous amber liquid before raising it again. "And to you, Glynda." He tossed his head back and downed the rest of it, before raising the empty glass yet again. "And here's to the devil that came between us."

* * *

Something was seriously wrong with Sasuke's partner. Even him get tossed around the classroom like a ragdoll had yet to coax a smile out of the normally exuberant young man. Happy as a clam for once would be appropriate, for he had yet to crack a smile or suggest an inkling as to what might be the problem. He had hardly uttered a word throughout the remainder of class. The highest form of expression had been in the suffering glances he shot at the leader of team RWBY who either didn't notice, or pointedly avoided his attention.

Sasuke had improved. Even he could admit that. And not just in fighting skills. But a handful of months up in the Arctic circle with someone even more antisocial than him was not conducive to reinforcing any of the progress he had made with other people. Still, it was obvious he had to do something.

He might try and wait things out, to see if any of their other friends would notice the sudden despondence in him. But if he was being honest, it was less likely than Naruto getting over the matter himself. The blond Faunus was the one who normally approached others. And despite how well he had entrenched himself in their social circle, he wondered if they still were seen as peers, or if the rest of the students still held them on a pedestal like they had for Pyrrha.

"Hey."

Sasuke found himself holding Naruto back in the hallway, separating him from the stream of students flowing onward down the hallway. Ahead of them he caught Ruby shoot the two of them a wounded glance before she was swallowed up by the rest of her team.

"Sasuke…"

Naruto looked at him with confusion and surprise, muted by the thick thoughts which clouded his mind. He allowed himself to be lead down the opposite direction, through the hall and out into an open courtyard where the only sound was the happy chirping of a swallow as it tended its perch which nested in the corner eves.

"So…" Sasuke sighed deeply, not at all familiar or comfortable with the conversation he was about to have.

"You want to tell me what's up with you and Ruby?"

Instead of the deep red and flustered look he expected to see, Naruto went ridged and dug his hands into the pockets of his school uniform which had been drastically simplified under Glynda's directive. He was certainly uncomfortable enough for the awkward subject. But the rest of it was wrong, looking far too grim for mere embarrassment of fondness.

"She wasn't…. expressing her affections, was she?" He didn't need to ask the question, but he really didn't know what else he could ask without Naruto giving him something more to go on. He silently shook his head and Sasuke felt a wave of fatigue settled on his shoulders as he prepared for an even harder talk. He had no choice though, and regathered his resolve for the long road ahead.

"Can you tell me what happened?"

Naruto bit his lip, clearly wanting to do so, but continued to remain silent while mulling the question around in his noggin. Finally, he sighed and shook his head in the negative and Sasuke felt another stone added to his shoulders.

"I'm sorry, Sasuke. But this is kind of…personal." He weighed his words for a minute before he decided to clarify himself. "It's Ruby's decision if she wants you to know or not. I'm having a hard time figuring out what to do, but I know I can't betray her trust like that."

Sasuke nodded reluctantly now that he understood the problem was far more serious than just two teens with atrophied social skills and fluctuating hormones.

"Are you sure you can't talk to me about it?" Sasuke ventured, not sure exactly what answer he was expecting, or even hoping for, for that matter. He was ashamed to feel some relief when Naruto again denied him.

"It's not just you." Naruto insisted. "It's really between me and her. She trusted me with something important. And I…..I just don't know how to deal with it." How could he? This was a ludicrous situation from the get go. How was he supposed to rationalize an irrational situation with anything besides total breakdown?

The physical pain which suddenly shot through Sasuke's chest and throat drove both of their convoluted concerns aside for the moment as the raven-haired young man collapsed to a knee in a coughing fit. The swallow squawked indignantly at the sudden outburst and took flight in a flurry of beating wings, a couple of loose feathers trailing down to the ground besides the young warriors who supported one another.

"Sasuke!"

Naruto didn't know what to do as his partner and friend collapsed in the middle of their conversation, unable to speak, and if he had to guess, unable to breath. He just gripped the young man's shoulders firmly to keep him from spilling onto the ground in his convulsions. Eventually the fit began to break and Sasuke was again able to catch his breath, ending the episode with a pair of labored, wet hacks.

Naruto's eyes widened at the glob of blood which coated the mottled feathers and spilled out onto the cobblestones.

"Should I get a doctor?" Naruto asked with some desperation.

Despite the obvious concern expressed by the blond, Sasuke suddenly found himself fed up with everything. The coughing, the pain, the blood, the conversation, the social dance that he was suddenly forced to endure upon coming back to Beacon. Most of all, his helplessness.

He grabbed Naruto by both shoulders, pulling the surprised young man down to his level and glaring at him with a half-crazed expression.

"Listen to me, idiot!" He hissed and Naruto could only stare back wide-eyed. The fear and hurt returned to him made Sasuke tone down his tirade some as he realized his mistake. But he still could not let go of his fervor.

"Naruto, listen to me. You need to talk with someone. If it isn't me, talk to her team. Talk to her uncle. Hell, talk to Glynda, if you can't be a man and talk to her." He had to pause and catch his breath which still had not fully returned to him. The seconds he used to breath allowed him to calm down another step, all the while hoping he hadn't managed to shatter his questionable friendship in one fell swoop. He began to regret the words incubated in his infirmity.

"Damn it. Look, Naruto, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have been so short with you- it's just that I can't stand to see you like this. It's not you. It's wrong. It's-" Sasuke shook his head and cursed himself as the foreign words spilled from his mouth. He didn't know if he had made any sense, and was certain that he must sound agitated.

Naruto stopped his apology with a clap on his shoulder and a wry smile which gave Sasuke no small amount of relief.

"Don't worry about it. I know you are just trying to help me out. And thing is, you're right. I do need to do something, but I can't solve this on my own. I just need to find someone who can help me out with this." His smile turned apologetic as he helped his partner to his feet, keeping one hand on his shoulder to steady him.

"I'm sorry it can't be you. Really, I am. You would probably be the best one to ask, but I would need to ask Ruby and I'm not quite ready to do that yet."

Sasuke nodded, inexpressibly comforted he hadn't managed to screw things up just yet.

"If you want, I could talk to Ruby and mediate for you." He wasn't sure at first why he offered this service, but the wistful look on his friend's face quickly answered that question. Once again though, Naruto respectfully declined his assistance.

"No, I couldn't have you do that, as much as I'd like to." He looked at his comrade sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head in that most familiar of expressions. "To be honest, I'm not even sure I should be having this conversation with you right now, I may have already said too much." Sasuke nodded in understanding.

"Well, I needed to try." Thanks for letting me make a fool of myself. Though he kept that expression to himself. He was the only one thinking it, anyway.

"Thanks for that. I realize now that I was brooding too much, and that wasn't going to get me anywhere."

"Yeah, you're pretty useless at it. Just leave it to the professionals." Naruto chuckled softly.

"I'm not sure that I'll ever get used to you making jokes…"

"Hn."

"That's better."

Suddenly realizing the length of the shadows on the wall, an important realization came to Naruto.

"Oh crap, we're late for our next class, aren't we?"

Sasuke sighed and nodded despairingly before steering the two of them back into the hall they had come from, putting an arm in front of his companion to keep him from rushing off.

"We're already significantly late. A little more won't matter." Naruto looked like he was going to protest, but then shrugged his shoulders as he realized the model student was basically giving him a free pass to drag his feet. He followed Sasuke's direction, walking leisurely next to his partner with head resting in both of his hands, ears silently twitching on the top of his head.

"It feels…kind of right though."

"What? Being late?"

"Yeah. I know it's weird, but I just can't shake the feeling that we are supposed to be a little late in showing up."

"Yeah."

Sasuke allowed himself a small smile as he felt his job had been done. He would never quite be sure what had provoked him to involve himself in that matter, but was glad he had done so. Whatever it was, was still far from over, so he hoped that it wouldn't be too serious.

For the moment he just reveled in the routine, the comforting similarities allowing him to let go of his own troubles for the while.

At least, before everything would change, as it always would.

* * *

"So…I hear tell you've been looking for me."

It been a long, long day, thirty-six hours and counting by his reckoning. And it had been a long, long, road from Beacon to Atlas and back again in the span of one solar cycle. From dawn till dusk he rode the crimson sunset into oblivion. Yet he still had so far to go, and began to wonder if he would be able to keep this up furious pace in his old age.

But he could rally himself for this. If he were honest, he wouldn't miss this conversation for the world.

He just hoped he had enough wherewithal to avoid saying something he would regret.

"I have." The young man stood stalwart in front of the weary huntsman, clearly not in his usual humors. "I'm going to take a stab and say that you know why I need to talk to you, Qrow?"

He might have been proud that the dull-seeming boy was finally showing some manner of attentiveness. But the fact that he was here meant that he wasn't at Ruby's side, where he needed to be. And so Qrow was irritated instead, ire building like the throbbing migraine behind his drooping eyes.

"Yeah, I think I do." He crossed his arms and stared down his nose at Naruto, unsure of why he was feeling such malediction towards Naruto's reaction of the news. He had much more time to come to terms with his niece's burden, yet still hadn't. Why should the kid be any better?

Was he wrong to expect more from the boy? Naruto had been through so much. He retained the shadow of sensation and emotion, but was cursed to disremember the very events that had forged him. In many ways it was a crueler fate than to simply forget, but Qrow would argue otherwise.

But how could he expect someone so lost to succeed where he had failed? Maybe he had truly been bewitched by the incorrigible optimism Naruto symbolized, and thus by necessity had to feel his trust betrayed.

"But before you ask me anything, I need to ask something of you."

Qrow told himself that he was going to be patient. That the kid deserved another shot at redemption. Once again, it was for the sake of his niece, and not for him.

Naruto nodded diffidently, expecting both a literal as well as hypothetical flogging from the overprotective uncle.

"Why aren't you with her right now?"

He would have said that he had been prepared for the stern huntsman to ask him anything. He was ready for all manner of cruelty, obfuscation, and blame. But he wasn't ready for that.

Frankly, everything that happened since this morning had blindsided him, and this esoteric question should not have come as any additional surprise. But still he felt himself struggling to comprehend the train of logic behind the spiteful sounding words.

"I…. don't understand." He weighed his words and found them poor currency.

"Clearly." Qrow huffed and rolled his eyes in weariness and impatience both, wondering if he was ever going to see a pillow again. He lowered himself jadedly down into the armchair, convinced that he was probably not going to get any sleep this night, either. And wondering also if he was going to have to spell it out for the confused teen.

"I mean: why aren't you giving her your support right now?" He shut his eyes and let his head flop back on the padded seatback and felt himself sink into the increasingly enticing plush. "I admit, I'm an overprotective uncle. And as such, normally, I'd rather see your skin splayed out on my floor than have you spending 'personal time' with my niece." He gathered his energy and sat up, mustering all the acuity he had left to focus on the Faunus who was listening with rapture to his words.

"But- and this is big but- right now she needs support, and I'm not the one that can give it to her." He admitted his own failings in not so many words. "Not even Yang can satisfy the need she has right now. She's her sister, so she'll always care about her no matter what. Same with me, and same with Tai. But you, Naruto Uzumaki-" He jabbed a dagger-like finger at Naruto who felt the stab of pain acutely.

"She trusted you with that secret, not because you were once it's container, but because she needed **you** to support **her**." Naruto felt his eyes widen and a sense of panic envelop him as a sudden call to action gripped him. "She could have easily kept it to herself and to those who could actually **help** her with it. But instead, she wanted, needed to tell someone. And she chose you. What does _that_ tell you?"

"But I-" He still didn't have words to describe exactly the emotions he felt with the knowledge. They were all lost in the furious storm of memories and emotion that fought for that little window of air at the surface. It was almost a relief when Qrow cut him off.

"It ain't about **you** , kid." He threw his head back yet again, screwing his eyes shut and covering them with his palms as the last of his energy left him. "It seems like you've talked with everyone in this school except the one you need. I would have thought you'd figure that out by now…"

He let his sentence drift off, unable to muster any other words of wisdom or criticism for the young man who was oddly silent in the wake of what must have been, for one of them, quite a wakeup call.

He was _really_ silent, not even his soft breathing echoed through the stony chamber.

"Kid?" He ventured after what felt like a few minutes ticked by. There was no answer. Naruto had left the small room long ago, letting the window rattle back in forth in the midnight air, just turning cold and signaling the looming winter. Qrow sighed and let his cares leave him as consciousness took flight out the same window.

"Finally…."

* * *

"…What the hell?"

Blake listened to the groggy question as it was drowned out by the banging on their door. She chose to stay silent, turning over and burying her head further into her pillow, hoping that whatever insanity was waiting on the other side of the portal would go away, or become a moot issue. Preferably before she went deaf.

*BANG-BANG-BANG*

"Alright! Alright! Jeeze, what the hell's the matter with you? People are trying to get some beauty sleep here!"

Blake sighed under the covers as the latter happened first, Yang having gotten fed up with the incessant disturbance at their doorstep, her patience being the shortest. She threw herself out of her bed and stormed over to answer the inconsiderate visitor, not bothering with any pretense of sociability by dressing or turning on the lights. Concern was reserved entirely for accosting the moron that was calling on them in the middle of the night.

"WHAT?!" Yang yelled louder than prudent for such an hour, but reasoned that if her roommates weren't already awakened by the banging, they wouldn't stir with her additional uproar.

She surprised herself with the proficiency of her own instincts as she groggily shot her arm out to snag whatever intruder had tried to shove their way into their dorm room.

"Let go Yang! I need to talk to Ruby!" The familiar male voice burbled above the bicep smothering his face.

"Naruto?" Yang ventured incredulously, still wondering if this was not part of some elaborate dream. "What are you doing here? Do you know what time it is?"

While struggling from his place in the headlock, Naruto had the decency to look sheepish as he fought in vain to free himself.

"I know. I'm sorry." With each word that came out of his mouth he reeled in his volume in deference to the others still sleeping. His urgency restrained to a minimum now that he was so near his goal.

"But please, you have to let me talk to her." He entreated with the girl's sister, but even in the darkness he could see she didn't look in any mood to entertain leniency.

"Are you kidding me? It's past midnight. And besides that, what makes you think that I'd let you? She's been pretty upset most of today, starting after you two had your little 'talk'."

"I understand that." He stated dejectedly, his voice barely above a whisper, suddenly aware of the scene he must be causing. Additionally, he realized that even if he did manage to talk to the silver-eyed girl tonight, the attention he had attracted with this midnight escapade would cause her no small amount of grief. She wanted as little attention on her issue as possible, and this was far from helping.

But he didn't have any choice, not in his eyes.

"I know that I screwed up this morning. Can't you see that I'm just trying to make it right?"

She heard the pleading tone in his voice, but having been spurned one too many times herself, she wasn't about to let her little sister bear that hard lesson just yet. Before she could deny him, though, the decision was made for her.

"Yang? What's going on?"

Ruby's sleepy voice issued forth behind her as she stumbled out of bed and walked over into the yellow light spilling in from the hallway. She absently rubbed her eyes and failed to suppress a yawn, still unsure of what commotion was going on in their tiny dorm. She had actually just fallen asleep. The day had worn her out completely, but her mind still refused to let her be, and continued to harry her for hours after she went to bed.

"Huh? Naruto, what are you doing here?" She blinked away the fog, not quite sure the silhouette she saw was really there.

"Ruby!"

Before Yang could tighten her stranglehold and prevent escape, the furtive young man slipped out of her grip using his semblance and dashed over to the sleepy girl faster than either two newly awakened women could comprehend.

"Eep!"

Ruby found herself completely enveloped in a desperate embrace, the strong, wiry arms clinging to her and compelling their two bodies together as if the universe itself were going to try and tear them apart.

Sometimes, it felt like that.

"I'm so sorry for how I acted earlier." The desperate words spilling into her ear barely above a whisper. "It's just- you surprised me. B-but that's no excuse. I promised to help you out, and I should have been doing that all along, right from the get go. I should have been there for you like you were for me."

The tears spilling down her neck and onto her nightgown surprised the both of them. And, even more shockingly, she didn't feel any embarrassment despite this most public of displays. Only relief, as her own tears joined his and she shakily returned the embrace. Neither had truly understood until then, the tumult caused by a few spoken words, more by those omitted.

How the common tongue they trusted so often betrayed them, so that meaning only precipitated in tears.

"I won't break my promise. I swear. I'm here for you now, and I'll always be here when you need me." He had come so close, though, to doing just that. So close to doing the one thing that in any incarnation was treasonous to his nature. He would never do so again.

"I know." She whispered back, letting her tears be whisked away by the spiky golden locks as she buried her nose into the shielded crook of his neck, losing herself in that private little world of touch and scent.

The others watched on in disbelief at what seemed like a stage performance. As if the scene before them was a midsummer night's dream, a grotesquely sentimental and poorly acted play at real life. Not yet clear if it was a comedy, or tragedy.

Yang stood perplexed by the doorway, unsure of what to do with herself and now feeling the third wheel in the situation. She was unable to coax herself to make light of the tender scene in front of her, no matter how perfect the opportunity to tease her little sister.

Weiss had sat up sometime during the height of the confrontation to see what the fuss was about. But in the ensuing calm, decided that whatever the private matter was did not warrant her ire or attention. She lay back down with an exasperated huff. Yang shrugged to herself, deciding to do the same and padded obliquely past the intertwined pair who paid her no notice. She flopped face-first back into bed.

Blake smiled quietly to herself, picturing the act that words both soft and hard had invited in her mind. It was almost like one of her novels. She denied knowing which book, though. She didn't want to know how it played out. She chose instead to let it be a mystery for a little while longer, so that real life might yet enjoy a happy ending as well.

* * *

"You came back."

The way she spoke, it was a post-facto command. There had never been any doubt in her eyes, even though skepticism shone contemptuously in the faces of men and women she surrounded herself with, as they all looked down on the street rat that had walked unfaltering into their midst.

She appeared to ignore them as she focused her softly cloying gaze on the outsider. But she wasn't ignoring them. She was acutely aware of every set of eyes in that dimly-lit rat's nest, and wanted them to watch, to understand just what she was all about.

"Do you think you're ready?"

The harrowed face stared unblinkingly up at her as she kneeled in front of him. He couldn't tear his gaze away even if he wanted to. She was his angle, even missing her wings and one arm during her descent from heaven, she was beautiful. She would show him the way to his salvation.

He raised his hands to show his childish ocher palms, now bearing wrinkled gouges and crimson stain.

She smiled at him, reaching out a sheltering arm and beckoning him into the fold. The tail which hung limply between his legs wagged a slow metronome as he stumbled forward into the light of her favor.

She wasn't perfect. None of her followers would openly say so, of course, though they all knew her fallibility. But she was as close as they would get to perfection, or so they believed. She had displayed that she was there for them, the ones forgotten by both sides playing the game of good guys and bad guys. She was their fallen angle, their mundane savior, the bodhisattva that was going to lead them to the truth.

The truth that life was selfish, nasty, brutish, and short.

And oh, so beautiful.


	8. Dogs Were Barking

In that previous life, did the old him look down at the fleeing ground with such pacifying calm? Or did he ride the metal bird longing for his attachment to the ground? Flight was so natural to him now, but never ceased to be an experience. Even seated in the cargo hold of the Bullhead, he found contentment in not having to form an effort to soar above the landscape, kissing the tops of the trees as they flitted by. It allowed him to think.

Thoughts like the former. He weighed the two sides of the argument on the rusty scale in his mind, not making progress either way. He could have asked the young man next to him the answer to his wonderings. But that would have defeated the purpose of getting to know himself.

But the musings soon spoiled his view of the outside, and he turned back to the craft's other occupants, wondering how they chose to while away the time. He let out a chuckle which got swept away by the roar of the wind and the engines as he beheld the dichotomy in the cargo bay.

Stoicism met obliviousness, nonchalance met prim posture, closed eyes met bright curiosity as dark met light. They were so natural contraries, even more so than himself and his partner. It almost seemed natural to see them opposite one another. It was almost like they were born nemeses, destined to butt heads at some point in their lives.

But if this were true, where did that leave him? He had always expected to be the foil for his partner's stern personality. Was that his only qualification?

It was preposterous when given one second's thought. He was his own person, as he had proven time and again. But it was hard not to think like that when so much was still left unknown.

Like this cheery young woman, someone whose perpetual smile could give his own a run for longevity. Yet she was seemingly perfectly content to enjoy herself in silence, in that respect different than he who needed human interaction. Did robots even need companionship? Did he have to worry about her stealing his away?

Assuming, of course, it existed to begin with.

Her perky green eyes that had been focused on his resting teammate turned to him as if sensing his ruminations, and he instantly felt regret for his skeptical thoughts when she perked up at his distant attention. Machine or not, perspicacity like that could not be mimicked. He gave her a conservative smile back, and she in turn waved, guiltless as a babe. More innocent than he could afford to be.

Still, he waved back abashedly, his usual teammate choosing that time to wake from his own cogitations and look over at him waving stupidly to the two of them on the other side of the cargo bay. Realizing without context the gesture looked kind of strange, Naruto sheepishly hid his hand behind his back with no small amount of chagrin. The arrogant scoff he expected from Sasuke never came, only an exasperated smile and a shake of his head as he pushed himself to his feet, the Bullhead already lurching to a stop.

" _This is your stop, kiddies. Have fun!"_

The chipper voice was at ends with the image of the professionally kitted-up pilot he had seen in the cockpit, but he didn't mind. Instead, feeding off the vicarious excitement, he let out an enthusiastic whoop as he leapt from the still moving craft, soon to be followed by his two accompanying cohorts landing lightly next to him on the concrete slab.

"This place again…"

Sasuke grumbled as he stood up from his crouch and dusted off the debris kicked up from the quickly retreating aircraft.

"Oh! So you have been here before?" Penny cheerfully inquired, seemingly grating on the young man as he narrowed his eyes and surveyed the skeletal remains of the city.

It was much the same as before, though time had still not been kind on Mountain Glenn. More of its teeth-like buildings which had jutted into the sky had become perforated by cavities, and even more had crumbled into nothing but dust. It was just another reminder of how ephemeral the creations of mankind were, of the fragility of life itself.

Which was why it was a good thing Penny had been tasked to come along with them. Though it had irked the headmistress to no end when Qrow had returned from his trip with the two tag-alongs, it would be a blatant lie to say that they did not appreciate the additional resource. Penny was made for missions like this, where eradicating Grimm was the primary objective.

It fact, one might say that the two of them were redundant if this were the entirety of the matter.

But it wasn't. Contrary to what Naruto may have thought, it wasn't merely a test of their teamwork and skills. And, amazingly, contrary to what Sasuke surmised, neither was it solely to chaperone the still quirky android.

It was a straightforward mission to be sure, but one which had so many convoluted reasons for execution, and comparatively few concerns.

After the orgy of hatred which was Beacon, the Grimm which had retreated had been driven out of Vale and well past the boundaries of routine patrol. But beyond that, the City-Kingdom had few resources to spare to hunt them down through the expansive countryside. They could hardly keep them from annihilating the smaller population centers beyond the capital's jurisdiction. Places like Patch, who were lucky enough to have homegrown huntsmen and women to rally their defense.

But there were many Grimm that had fled into the woods and landscape which remained unaccounted for. With Mountain Glenn having historically been a fecund habitat for them, and with the government seeing no reason to waste resources razing it to the ground, the dangerous possibility was there for a resurgence at some point in the future.

By the same token, they had reason to suspect it of housing the last vestiges of the White Fang. The Faunus Rights Revolutionary group had been pressed hard in the last few months, the majority either being apprehended or driven into hiding. The abandoned site was an obvious fallback.

After the first incident with team RWBY, the municipal patrols stationed in their wake had left months ago. Letting the ghost-city's population return back to zero. There was nothing to stop the 'evildoers' from taking up residence once again. Though it had the failing of being obvious, it was also easily defensible if one knew the terrain. And whatever dregs the White Fang still had to muster could not afford to be picky after the recent federal crackdown on them in the City.

And yet for all that recommended the place, there was nothing to show for it. As the last dying rumbles of the airship's engines faded away, they were left alone and unmolested to listen as the dry Fall wind whistled through the spindly towers.

"Was it like this the last time you visited?" The gynoid asked, the barest hint of skepticism evident in her level tone.

"More or less," Sasuke muttered distractedly. After all, it had been unusually quiet the first time around, and yet the place had been crawling with not only hordes of Grimm, but an involved criminal operation to boot.

He hummed in thought for a moment, pausing to look over at his blond teammate who had been unusually quiet apart from the one outburst. Though he was clearly distracted by something, Sasuke was pleased to see it didn't prevent him from executing the mission, as Naruto was already busy sniffing the air like he had been born to it (though for all intents and purposes he had), searching for any abnormalities. He turned back to the sole female among them.

"Android. Penny," He corrected himself of his own accord. "Can you… sense anything?"

She blinked expectantly, either having not noticed the first address or not finding it offensive, before her eyes widened and glazed over and her twig-like body went ridged. Naruto turned to them with eyebrows raised, equally intrigued at the proceedings.

Another series of blinks returned her to them after a short pause and they watched her smile level off to a contemplative purse.

"Unknown." She scanned the pock-marked horizon as if looking for something. "I am getting readings from motion sensors, but the distance makes it difficult to define the source."

"Grimm?" Naruto asked, sounding a little hopeful, at least until Penny shook her head.

"I cannot tell from here." They saw her frown for the first time since their meeting, and that drew a blanket of caution over their postures. "Unlikely. Sounds that match quadrupedal patterns appear too small for most Grimm species. Majority is irregular. Bipedal."

It was their turn to frown as they processed the implications. It could still be any number of things, from common criminals, to White Fang remnants, to innocent thrill seekers and delinquent youths looking for kicks. The latter two were less likely, but stranger things had happened, and it would be just their luck to encounter them.

Still, the formers weren't without their own challenges. If it were indeed White Fang like they believed, they would have several options when dealing with them. They could simply try and wipe them out, like the city authorities wanted them to do. Or they could do what Glynda insinuated preferentially: reason with them and if they could, try to get them to surrender peacefully.

Each option had their merits. Exterminating them would probably be easiest, and certainly a permanent solution. But doing so would deny them the option of reconciliation that was obviously needed at the moment.

The Faunus population in Vale was perhaps in the most stressful position it had been in nearly a decade, with the crackdown on the White Fang came the repression of all members of the species. Not to mention that the White Fang still had factions in the other nations that would not take kindly to the extermination campaign being waged. But so far, they had been quiet about it.

To let them live, though, was practically negligence. There was such a thing as being too lenient, and the ones who cowered here now were far from innocent. It was far more prudent to protect themselves, especially with the surety of the targets now emblazoned on their backs.

But their group now contained a Fauns. Naruto, one whose charisma could not be denied. So it was an opportunity as well. Not only for dealing with the jaded terrorists, but for seeing how their animalistic comrade dealt with those radicals of his own 'species'.

It was this last thought that cemented the decision of how to proceed in Sasuke's mind. Even though he had not been explicitly placed in charge, he had little doubt the other two would not hesitate to follow his directive. He was also certain that neither would object to sparing as many lives as they could. He wasn't one to pander to a bleeding heart. But at the same time, he did not want to place such a heavy burden as fratricide on the shoulders of his friend. Not so soon, at least.

"Right. Well, we're not going to get anything done just standing here. Let's form up and head out to the nearest source."

Penny and Naruto both nodded, the robotic girl taking point without orders, knowing she had to be the one to lead them. It gave the raven-haired teen the chance to fall in with his comrade and exchange a few words while they followed their electronic hound.

"You alright?" Sasuke asked verbally as quiet as he could, unsure if the blond remembered any of the coded talk they had learned in the academy (if he had even learned in the first place).

Naruto tore his gaze away from surveying the buildings to look at his partner, absently relying on his independently rotating ears to scan the surroundings.

"Hm? Yeah, fine." He answered truthfully. He didn't get a lot of sleep last night to be sure, but the burden which threatened to keep him up for the next few consecutive weeks had been alleviated. And compared with that, a little fatigue was nothing.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, disbelief evident and silently asking Naruto the obvious question of what they had discussed the day before. Naruto smiled apologetically and shrugged.

"I'm worried about Ruby." Sasuke nodded but his friend continued. "I mean, in general. She's on a mission today with her team." No mention of the unspoken issue did not mean everything was resolved just yet, but Sasuke was happy to know that things weren't so bad as to the point of being a distraction for his teammate. Anything else could be solved later.

"She'll be fine." He stated irrefutably. "She's strong. Plus, she's got a good team to back her up."

"Yeah, you're right." The Faunus cracked a smile as the two fanned back out into a proper triangle formation around the sensor, cautiously hugging the shadows cast by the crumbling buildings and each keeping an ear to the ground, always anticipating an attack at any moment.

They had to worry about themselves. Ruby was strong. Perhaps even more so than themselves. She would have to be, now.

* * *

"I'm sooooooo bored!"

But the question now was if she was strong enough to resist the crushing torment of absolute boredom. Though she had her teammates to support her, they too were quickly succumbing to the monotony of waiting around the police station with nothing to do. Other, that is, than listen to their captain consistently complain about it.

Blake being the only exception because of her propensity to always carry around reading material. But even her stalwart concentration was being tried currently. After the latest outburst from the juvenile woman had exhausted every surface to doodle on and every other appropriate means of entertainment.

The cat Faunus felt a twitch of aggravation niggling at her temple and leaned over to the usual buzzkill- *ahem*, source of reason in the team.

"Aren't you going to say something?" She whispered needlessly, for their captain was all but oblivious to them, rolling around in agony for lack of stimulation.

"Like what?" The Schnee heiress quirked a lazy eyebrow as she all but dozed off with her head leaning into the palm of her hand. She might have been accused of being negligent of her duty, if not for the fourth member of their team sawing logs while sprawled out on the adjacent couch, not a shred of womanly dignity about her.

"Well, you're normally the one to reign her in, chide her for not acting appropriately while on a mission. You know, nag her a little?" Blake almost felt like she was pleading to the other woman to do something. Weiss just looked at her dejectedly.

"What's the use? She's right. We've been here for five-and-a-half hours already. Why they had to get us up at four in the morning, just so we could wait around here for something to happen is beyond me." She sat up as an irritated glint formed in her pale blue eye, exuding an air of depravation, and causing the dark-haired beauty to shy back in wariness.

"I mean, really, what where the authorities thinking when they hired us? We are huntresses in training, not some run of the mill interns they can just sub in for office staff. We should be out there on the streets right alongside them- we should be running our own investigation, checking up on our old sources, meeting up with contacts. We should-we should...argh!"

Her voice which had been steadily climbing in volume finally broke the bounds of what would have been considered an 'inside voice'. The sudden and unexpected cry of frustration which rang throughout the office caught the attention of the rest of her team, distracted and otherwise, and a few heads like prairie dogs peaked over the short cubicle walls.

Suddenly realizing the attention that her venting frustrations attracted, Weiss turned a shade of crimson to match their leader's wardrobe and tried valiantly to disappear into her seatback. Eyes boring into the floor to avoid the concentrated glares of frenzied civil servants who were startled by the sudden outburst.

"What happened? I thought you were supposed to be the responsible one, and yet I find you shouting out in the middle of a police station."

Weiss stiffened at the sound of a male voice disparaging her. Torn between a harangue to defend her actions and trying to turn invisible, she looked like a rabid animal sputtering and growling some nonsensical justification. In the end she deflated and slumped back down into her seat, accomplishing none of what she set out to do.

"Right…" The speaker drawled as he approached the student team occupying the break room during the apparently inactive part of their mission.

"Uncle Qrow!" Ruby's shout made Weiss's outburst look like a little league attempt. The desk-bound police didn't even try to shush her, settling instead for barricading their ears or finding a soft spot to keel over and bemoan the loss of their eardrums.

"Aaaaannnd there it is."

He smiled while rolling his eyes, playing along with his niece's pantomime performance and bracing himself for the expected full-contact embrace. He was glad to see that the young male Faunus had managed to sort things out with her.

But still he questioned how much of her exuberance was done for the benefit of her team.

"Winter? What are you doing here?"

While the scythe wielders made up like they had been torn apart for years, Yang joining them half-way through, the other two noticed the presence of a pale-hued female behind the newcomer which the both recognized instantly. Weiss was busy deciding whether to be glad or concerned at the presence of her sister.

Meanwhile Blake debated the merits of a strategical retreat to the bathroom until the commotion blew over.

"Not that I'm upset to see you, but, well, shouldn't you be back up in Atlas?" In the end she settled for a combination of the two, hoping that her sister's military sense of propriety would lessen the formality of the question in her voice.

"Yes, yes I should."

To Weiss's surprise she agreed unconditionally and without missing a beat, all the while attempting to freeze Ruby's uncle with her glare. She suddenly broke off and turned to her sister with a half-smile and a resigned sigh. "Unfortunately, we have been getting more threats against the family as of late, and so General Ironwood 'allowed' me to accompany Qrow back to Beacon, so that I could spend some time poking around the campus and city to make sure the threats weren't headed your way."

"Oh, I see."

Which was just something she said, and had no bearing on the truth. The explanation seemed plausible, if rather odd. She knew from whispers around home that Glynda and Ironwood had not parted on good terms, as she all but forced his army out of Vale.

And even if her family or the military had reason to suspect that the school's defenses weren't sufficient, that was no excuse to send her sister. Political pressure would be the first solution to enact more local vigilance. Such openness of borders for the armed forces in Ozpin's time wasn't unheard of, but still was not so routinely done.

It was quite possibly just a sign of the times, she supposed. Either Glynda had decided it was time to extend an olive branch, or things were getting desperate in Vale. This assumption would at least help explain why they were needed to support the police.

"So how come you're all here?" Winter's half-smile grew into a smirk to hide her trepidations. "You girls get in trouble again?"

"What? No! We're here on a mission!" As if sensing the doubt in her team, Ruby switched gears from her own conversation to interject herself between the two Schnee sisters.

"What kind of mission, exactly?" The lieutenant asked with no small amount of dubiousness. The students had, after all, not been doing much of anything when the two of them arrived for some much-needed coffee before they met with another one of Qrow's associates.

"We're supposed to be additional logistical support for the local law enforcement." The last member of the team to speak broke her silence, at last finding an entry point, or exit, depending on point of view.

"The military and police forces in Vale are stretched thin right now, trying to round up the last of the White Fang stragglers. As such, when there are encounters, often it is with patrols who are incapable of dealing with the superior numbers." Or the fanaticism of the die-hard Faunus, which Blake tactfully left out, but which was evident to the two adults in the room.

"If contact is made, dispatch sends us in as backup to try and negotiate with them from a position of superior firepower."

It was obvious listening to her biased explanation of their role that Blake was conflicted on the morality of their assignment. But at the same time, she knew that having a Faunus on their team might make it easier to incite a dialog with the hold-outs.

At least it was better than the previous status quo, which all but dictated kill on sight for any suspected members.

Vale was one of the more progressive kingdoms, which was the only thing keeping them from running a terror campaign or witch hunt for the disperse members that might be mingling with the rest of the population. If this were Mistral, or heaven forbid, Atlas, then the paramilitary forces would have already rounded up a laundry list of suspects and quietly executed them.

But this wasn't either of those places, and so the logic made sense to Winter. She had seen the end results of such a hardline campaign to eradicate that sort of insurgency. Vale's was a far subtler, and if she were honest, effective approach.

Blake's sigh broke her internal musings and prevented her from reliving some of her more 'vivid' memories.

"That being said, things have been rather quiet around here as of late."

"Yeah, it's weird. All of a sudden it's like the last troublemakers up and skipped town." Yang spoke up while busily rooting around her ear with her pinky, inspecting a potential glob before childishly flinging it out of sight. "That, or they were scared that we were coming." She supplied cheekily while flexing her bicep.

Qrow frowned. Yang not only inadvertently disclosed another possible connection with his own line of investigation. He also took note at the apparent childish regression as of late in his elder niece. She had been markedly more juvenile recently, acting out far more vocally than she used to. It was getting so that Ruby had toned things down just to keep everything in balance. Of course, it did nothing for the overtly flirtatious behavior which had seen an increase as well.

If he had to guess, he would say that it was her own way of coping with what happened. Either she was acting out in an attempt to cover up whatever self-destructive feelings were plaguing her. Or the infantile mannerisms were a way of eschewing personal responsibility and denying the harsh reality. Whichever, in whatever proportion, chances are it was not a good thing. But he couldn't deal with it now, and he would have to rely on the rest of her team to pick up the slack.

This thought brought him a smile, however, as he turned his focus to her sister. It seemed to him that not only was she aware of this need, but was actively stepping up and filling the role. This was despite her own personal demons.

He was aware that he probably had someone else to thank for that transformation in Ruby, but knew also that his niece had always possessed that sort of strength. It just took a little bit of persuasion from someone else to make her believe it.

He daren't place his hopes just yet on Naruto being able to work the same sort of magic on Yang. Though he seemed to be recovering that otherworldly magnetism slowly but surely, he was not sure if it was right to depend on the boy to do that much so quickly.

It seemed that they would all have to pick up some of the slack, in more ways than one.

"Well, anyways, Ice Queen and I here were just stopping in for a cup of coffee- and a doughnut,"

He made to clap a friendly hand on the woman's shoulder, but the look she gave him assured him that he would lose the appendage if he tried. He settled instead for reaching past her and picking up one of the unglazed rings that had been sitting uncovered in the aluminum tray on the counter before retreating to a safe distance.

"And, well we should be going, he, he, he…"

He looked pleadingly to the lieutenant who was in her most fearsome posture- standing quietly and expressionlessly. All the while, Qrow cowered behind his pastry, as if the stale dough would shield him from her wrath. He flinched in response as she finally let out a sigh.

"Qrow is right, we have spent too much time here." There was always the chance that his contact might not be alive to meet them if they were late. "So we really must be going-"

Right as her sentence tapered off, a scrawny-looking ginger in a ruffled white shirt barged his way into the open room.

"Hey! You four! Squad six is calling for backup!" In the young man's urgency to relay his message, he was spared the ominous glare being sent his way from Winter who was shoved aside in his attempt to locate the Beacon students.

Taking pity on the unwitting intern, Qrow quickly steered the near-apoplectic woman out of the room and down the hallway before she could cause an international incident.

"Well hey, look at the time, seems you girls are busy too, so we'll just have to catch up later. Bye now!"

As the elder huntsman and soldier beat a hasty retreat, team RWBY, finally registering the call to action leapt to their feet with unrestrained excitement.

"Finally!" Yang exclaimed, leaping into the air and throwing a few quick jabs at an illusory opponent as soon as she touched down. Changing beats suddenly, she sidled up to the probationary officer and smiled at him flirtatiously. "So, you gonna show us the way to the fire, cutie?"

Apparently this sudden bipolar shift when combined with the recent exertion was too much for the lad. He panicked in the beautiful woman's closeness before his serpentine eyes rolled back up into his head and he slid to the floor.

"Well, that was… interesting." Blake noted dowerly, not for the first time ashamed by her teammate's antics. Though secretly admiring this level of 'efficacy'.

"Way to go Yang!" Weiss had no qualms about voicing her own frustrations. "Now we have no idea where to go!"

"Everybody just relax!" Ruby put herself between the two woman who were at wits end and apparently equally riled up. "I'm sure we can just ask someone else here!"

But when they looked around, the rest of the office was vacant. It was like the entire staff had suddenly gone on holiday.

In essence, that was what had happened. The workers, not being able to cope with the raucousness going on in their break room, all decided to take an early lunch, leaving the intern there in the odd event that something would actually come up.

"Well...shit." All were too dejected and frantic to care about the expletive that came out of the young woman's mouth.

"Eh, don't worry. I'm sure we can find them on our own. We just prowl around and look for where the commotion is. Nothing we haven't done before. How hard could it be?"

The others up until the end had listened to the tenuous logic in Yang's words, acknowledging that they had indeed done something similar before.

But when she added the rhetorical question at the end, they all felt their hopes drop to the floor and shatter like those month-old doughnuts.

All the kingdom's horses, and all the kingdom's men, wouldn't have a chance of putting that mess back together again.

* * *

Before Sasuke even sensed their approach, Penny stopped dead ahead of them. Naruto quickly caught the whiff of danger and his back foot inched closer in to the group as his fingers ghosted over the ivory handles of his knives stashed along the small of his back. All three had their senses directed upwards, to the hollow windows which bore down on them like eye sockets.

The raven-haired leader subtly closed ranks as well as he too made a move toward his sheathed weapon hidden underneath the ashen wool riding cloak. His other hand made its way to his neck, ready to undo the clasp and throw the heavy garment aside at a moment's notice.

There was no doubt that all three of their group were probably faster than whoever had managed to sneak up on them. The only reason they had managed to do so was because the student huntsmen hadn't realized until moments before that it was two separate groups they had been tracking, and not an oblivious single hoard. Now with one of the two defeated, the victors caught wind of their casual approach and had quickly turned the tables on them.

"I take it you have noticed that we have been surrounded." The android girl stated evenly. "I do not suppose that they are friendly."

"I don't know…" Naruto said with a grin, stepping backwards once again and tightening their ranks. "they seem pretty eager to play with us." His grin bore the warning sign of bared teeth, sharp fangs anticipating ripping their would-be ambushers to shreds if they decided to do anything foolish.

"Easy Naruto," Sasuke cautioned, his eyes suddenly acting up and forcing him to sectionalize them, relying instead on his oratory skills. "We're not exactly in a good spot here." He noted lowly with a growl that was more for the pain, but worked equally well in cowing his teammate.

It wasn't likely that the enemy possessed anyone capable of defeating them now that they were aware of their position. On the other hand, Sasuke had had his share of surprises for one round through this life.

"I am sorry for not noticing their approach until now." Penny apologized without breaking the monotony of her tone. "As such, I will take responsibility for this failure and deal with them myself."

Though Sasuke had no doubt the walking arsenal was fully capable of doing so normally, whoever had gotten the drop on them was at least adept enough to conceal their numbers. Considering the lack of information on the mission so far, it was not out of the realm of possibility that it could be a stronger force than anticipated.

He was both vindicated and disarmed when a saccharine voice called out to them from one of the vacant doorways.

"Now, now, there's no need for that. We were just on our way out."

The two ex-shinobi battled divergent instincts which simultaneously alarmed and pacified them. The friendly and familiar voice coupled with the slender silhouette in the doorway plucked their memories which both caused them to relax and reach again for their weapons.

Penny had no such qualms and had already deployed her entourage of blades and blasters as soon as she had found a target to point them at. This was the spur that the other two needed to draw their own weapons and fall into defensive stances.

The black-cherry chuckle which emerged from the equally dark space behind them tipped their instincts toward action. Yet at the same time, it seemed so unnatural for the voice which they knew they knew. They continued to second guess themselves but vowed to let their bodies take over if it came to combat.

"Show yourself." Sasuke managed to force out, falling in with Naruto, who was the closest to the doorway, and letting his cape slump off his shoulders and expose his wickedly curved blade. The silver metal shimmered silver in the long red light, clouds more smoke than vapor passing like a gossamer shroud over the sun and bathing the open street in a ferrous hue.

"Easy there Sasuke. No need to be so antsy, I am unarmed."

As the speaker stepped into the ruddy light, they saw the source of the amused lilt in her voice as she had but one arm to raise in pacifism.

But the lack of limb was not what startled the two huntsmen so upon sight of the figure. It was out of recognition for the face, where voice had been so changed as to be foreign. The sultry and condescending expression was new, but the rest of the visage they would know anywhere.

"Emerald!"

Sasuke was just in time to prevent his partner from straight away rushing the young woman. Despite her obvious disability, Sasuke was apt to let him, if for the sole reason that she had been a thorn in their side before. He was hesitant to let him loose, though. The veredette wasn't too much trouble by herself, but rarely tended to travel alone.

"I'm sorry, do you know this person?" Penny asked quizzically, for the first time doubting her default response.

"You could say that." Sasuke spat out as he dared squint his eyes, searching for signs of a sneak attack from the woman's comrades.

Emerald gave them all a kindly smile as she slowly approached them, letting her one arm drop to her side where no weapon was within easy reach. Sasuke tensed as she drew near, ready to strike her down but also wondering if she could somehow read the strained expression on his face as she made a beeline right for him.

"Don't worry, they're not with me." Now Sasuke **really** wondered if she could read his expression. Perhaps the isolation he had experienced in training had somehow lowered his emotional defenses. "Or rather, I'm not with them, anymore."

Sasuke was a shinobi. But unless he had been raised from birth to hide his every emotion, Sasuke would not have been able to control his expression at this offhand remark made by the enemy huntress.

Everything he knew told him that this was some kind of ploy. But the strangeness of the whole encounter set the tone for an equally strange truth, and he was ready to believe her. He was just wondering if the answers would come before or after the battle which drew ever more imminent with each step she took towards them.

Incredulously, the woman who seemed so deliberately unstoppable in her path suddenly halted as she apparently noticed Naruto for the first time. Or, rather, noticed something new about the young man who was staring at her with ice-blue daggers, a pair in his hands as well as his face.

"Is that you, Naruto?" She looked genuinely taken aback and took a half-step in reverse as if struck. "My, you've… changed." She finished the sentence with a surprised chuckle.

"Yeah, so have you." Naruto replied with tight lips and weapons still at the ready. Though as surprised as his comrade to see the woman alive, he had far more pent-up animosity towards her and so was more able to keep a clear focus. Their interactions had been one of the things he had retained through the switch.

Her surprise also alerted him that she didn't know anything about his new condition. And for once he wanted to keep it that way.

"So, you noticed…" She recovered the reigns of the conversation with her wit and femininity, flirtatiously dragging her hand over her developed curves which were advantageously pronounced with an otherwise nondescript white minidress. Naruto growled, not at all amused while Penny continued observing the strange human interaction.

"Cut the bullshit." Naruto demanded with a worrisome flatness. "Give me one good reason I shouldn't cut you down right here and now, Cinder or no?"

If she was intimidated, the amputee woman did an admirable job of hiding it behind a jocular expression and expressed herself in a light tone without succumbing to the gravity of the threat.

"Like I said before, we were just leaving. We just came to take care of some… unfinished business." She shrugged innocently, a bizarre sight with but one arm taking the brunt of the gesture.

"I detected two distinct groups before this one surrounded us." Penny supplied while still maintaining her arsenal directed towards the hidden enemies in the surrounding buildings, the visible target obviously being covered by the two in front of her.

"Yes. Like I said, we just had to take care of a few things that we didn't have time for before." The two males tensed as their enemy made a flagrant waving gesture with her one arm before placing it on her hip. "You should be thanking us. For once our problems were one and the same. So now that that's done, we'll be on our way."

"The targets have gone."

The android supplied, quickly changing her aim from the dark windows to the aloof woman who carelessly strode down the street parallel to their group, easily within range of a determined lunge.

But Emerald didn't so much as look at them as she strolled along her merry way, in the direction whence they had come. Unlike before, her last statement was not an offhand remark, and more informing them of what was going to happen.

"That's it? Not going to try and sway us over to your side?" Sasuke scoffed. "What makes you think **we** are going to allow you to leave, anyway?"

She stopped then and turned around, looking at all of them, starting with the issuer of the challenge but ending with Naruto whom she stared at for some time. And during that duration, her expression shifted from a dangerous confidence to one of something akin to apologetic.

"No, I'm afraid not." Her words actually matched her tone, as she still patently ignored the second question.

"Why? We not worth it anymore?" Naruto growled out, still ready to rip and tear as soon as the hammer dropped.

"I guess you could say that." Her sorrowful smile twisted into one of regret. "It's not that I want us to be enemies. In fact, I hope one day you'll see my side of things. You see, I'm not like Cinder, I'm not following Salem anymore." She looked up, and in the ever-shifting sea of expressions they patiently watched determination splash across in a wave which washed away everything layered on before.

"I'm following my own path. There are those that are trusting me to lead them, and I can't betray them to further my own goals."

The words struck Naruto with their message as well as their honesty. The two organics among them were taken completely off guard by the perpetually shifting emotions and feeling they got from the familiar deceiver. It was like she was a totally different person, or rather, several totally different people. The android was confused as well, but then again, she always was when it came to these strange students. So in the end she followed their lead and did nothing.

"And what, pray tell, are those goals?" Sasuke spoke up with genuine interest, while still gripping tight the wood burl handle.

"Freedom." The simplicity of her statement as well as the naivete once again caught them off-guard. "The ability to do what I want, to not be chained by duty of what others expect of me. To be able to live my life without fear of reprisal. I want this for myself, and for everyone willing to help me get it."

"And in what world," Naruto started with a surprising amount of anger in his voice. Hearing the lofty goals from the morally questionable woman raised his hackles as if it were a personal affront to everything he held dear. "In what world do you see that happening? How do you plan to achieve that? In case you haven't noticed, we're the good guys here. I kicked your ass once, and I can do it again and for as many times as it'll take."

"That may be," The woman replied, the dangerous smirk once again overcoming her gentle face. "but things are different now. The one constant, and the answer to everything you ask is but one simple thing:"

All three were shocked as she drew a half-circle with her hand and a blade of flame erupted from her finger tips, carving a swath in the buildings which lined the streets and sent avalanches of cement blocks down on the road, cutting them off from her as well as the path from which they came. As the pyroclastic debris rained down and the dust cloud rose into the already darkened sky, they heard her answer echo through the otherwise empty streets.

" _Anarchy_."

* * *

They eventually did find their way to the incident, or rather **an** incident. It had to be, with all the gathered law enforcement cordoning off the street from corner to corner, it was impossible to imagine that their request came from anywhere else.

The grim-faced officers milling about the fringe wall of yellow tape acknowledged them with silent nods, as if they hadn't noticed their delay, and raised the flimsy barrier to let them duck their heads and enter the scene of the crime.

Everything was soon obvious. The heavy police presence and precaution, the stoic and rancid air, the lack of salutation. The polic had been far too preoccupied to worry about one unanswered call from student huntresses. They would have been superfluous, anyway.

The whole event was over almost as soon as it began. It was obvious the White Fang holdouts hadn't tried to negotiate with the police. Their bodies littered the streets still clad in their now permanently stained uniforms, all with weapons within reach of their still corpses. There were a few random blankets and plastic sheets covering what was likely an even more gruesome scene. Far too few. The recently paved asphalt was gleaming with a fresh coat of blood.

They wouldn't have made a difference anyway.

If they had been there they might have taken the blows for a few officers who had been injured in the line of duty. Though none of them seriously wounded, it would seem. They sat on the tailgate of the meat wagons in no hurry to go anywhere, hollow expressions as they let the medics fuss over their minor scrapes and grazes. The injuries that would need tending couldn't be done there, not then.

"'Bout time you made it." A gruff and quintessentially cliché officer approached them as they wandered carefully but aimlessly amidst the scatterplot of corpses. He flicked his stub of a cigarette with an abandon that made the four of them take an instant dislike for him, or at least his callousness. But none uttered a single word about it. They were in no position to talk about such things.

"Luckily, it seems we didn't need you." He sighed out in a less than scathing remark, more exhausted than anything else. The square jawed man then ran his gloved hand through his graying hair and picked his way expressionlessly amongst the dead with cold brown eyes.

"They didn't even give us a chance to let them surrender. The first unit on scene to engage them only had enough time to send an emergency distress. By the time any of the specialist teams made it, it was already over." He sighed as he patted blindly around his trench coat for a pack of cigarettes that in had gone on their own search for answers.

"Why?"

The pitiable question came not from the perceived child leading the student huntresses, but from the often-soft-spoken Faunus who, for the sake of the mission, was doing nothing to conceal her heritage.

The senior officer turned his gaze to her as he continued to rummage around his coat for something to light the unlit smoke pinched in between his lips, unsympathetic to what was surely a more personal grievance. He gave a sigh as he temporarily gave up, twiddling the cancer stick in his fingers.

"I don't know. I really don't." He shook his head shallowly and kicked at the bleeding earth. He perked up minutely as a foreign and slender hand appeared in his vision, proffering a dully polished rectangle in their palm.

"Thanks,"

He muttered, letting the smaller woman ignite the cigarette once again in his mouth as he leaned over into the flame. Ruby nodded silently, handing him the found lighter as she lowered herself from her tip-toes.

The others looked on with strange moroseness at their leader, who was acting unusually more her role than ever before.

"I mean, it doesn't make sense. None of them had their aura unlocked, so they weren't hard-core fighters. None of them even went for cover as the shooting started. Total rookies, the lot of them." He spoke angrily of the dead as he glowered at the morbid collage that was being cleared up at the speed of government. "And yet they still gave up their lives in the blink of an eye. Has the situation really devolved so much?"

But it wasn't the dead Faunus he was angry at.

Even Blake could see that, though in her inner turmoil percolating outwards, it was hard for her to even comprehend what was going on around her. She couldn't tear her eyes away from the scene. As soon as she managed to disengage a staring contest with a surprised and innocent looking marsupial-man, a scaled hand which had snuck out from underneath the white plastic cover grabbed her attention and refused to let go.

"Blake?" The cat Faunus's surprised jump turned into uncontrollable twitches under the gentle hand of her teammate. "I-I'm sorry. I-can't, I can't-" no one could control what was going on, the world itself had gone awry.

"Hey! Up there! Someone stop her!"

No one knew who made the call, but it did tear Blake back from her own metaphorical edge. Everyone else was drawn to one in the more physical sense, and the terrified looking Faunus looking over its precipice.

"Shit! You there! Get your hands off your dicks and grab a pad! You! Get a megaphone! Don't anyone let her get any closer!"

Where before there had been only a languid sense of resignation throughout the sectioned-off city block, now there was frantic life and movement surrounding the death and hopelessness. The four huntresses too sprang into action before being halted by the officer in charge. Before they could voice their opinions, however, his commanding voice silenced them.

"Don't do anything just yet. This is what we wanted you here for, not to fight, but to talk. We need you to try and talk this girl down from there." None of the students looked happy at this prospect, all much more comfortable with action. But they had no room to object.

"Here captain,"

A young female officer who might have been a Faunus herself pressed the cone-shaped object into her commander's hands while hiding her downward angled face with the brim of her hat.

The captain then handed the device off to Ruby with a solemnity that made it impossible to refuse. The young woman balked, mouthing mute words of protest and fumbling with hands that didn't seem to know what to do. But then she caught the retreating glance of the female officer who silently implored her to try her best nonetheless.

Ruby gulped and held the tapered end towards her face, depressing the button on the handle along with the pantomime gesture from the gruff captain.

"Hey…you!" She stumbled with her words, shouted painful with reverberation that made everyone within earshot flinch. Still, she pressed on, letting the urgency drive her and trying to not let it rush her speech. "Listen to me. You don't want to do this!"

The bereaved denial from ten stories up was muffled by the ambient thrum and cold echoes between buildings. Ruby paused and looked amongst her fellows on the ground clueless as to what was said. Blake noticed her floundering for an appropriate response and came to the rescue with her advanced hearing.

"She said: 'I don't have a choice. I'm dead either way.'"

Rather than waste time thanking her teammate, Ruby hopped back on the megaphone.

"Of course you do! We don't want to hurt you! Just come down and let's talk about it." More mumbles accompanied the blurred shaking of her head.

"… 'I can't. The police will kill me.' "

"No they won't, I promise you. You have my word." The thought then hit her that though she had promised it, she didn't know the truth. She glanced at the captain warily, who gave her an assuring nod. Giving her own sigh of relief and content that her faith in humanity had not been misplaced, she turned her focus back to the matter at hand.

"The captain has given his word too. We just want to help you. We're all just tired of this bloodshed." Ruby quickly switched off the electronic device as she felt her voice crack. Her bold façade faltering just a little as she voiced her most honest opinion out loud. Hopefully, it was something they could all agree on.

There was a pause of quiet where even the wind seemed to stop, and Ruby swore she could make out the pained expression on the young Faunus's face as she clamped her eyes shut to keep the desperate tears from falling like rain. It was so quiet and so clear that her next words were like a whisper in her ears.

"…'So am I'- Ruby!"

Before Blake had even called out Ruby was already on the move, blitzing towards the falling body faster than anyone had ever seen her move before. There was no fanfare, no trail of flowers lauding her approach to the supersonic realms, only an invisible wake which picked up body bags and droplets of blood and scattered them to the four winds.

She didn't even stop as she came to the edge of the building. She just leapt in a shallow arc, planting her foot directly into the hardened concrete before she kept going, running straight up the wall. The watchers tracked her explosive footprints as they climbed the vertical surface faster than gravity pulled the woman down.

But was it fast enough?

Ruby was the only one who had time enough to entertain this doubt. For the rest of them including the suicidal White Fang, the outcome was inevitable. Terminal velocity was nothing compared to the young scythe wielder who launched herself backwards in a horizontal arc off the wall, intercepting the falling woman as gracefully as a professional diver.

There was no question of how they would get down, either. As Ruby, flowing seamlessly along with the summersaulting catch, deployed Crescent Rose and hooked her tip into the now pockmarked surface of the building. It sliced through the artificial stone like a bedsheet, delaying their combined fall just enough so that they landed in a deep crouch next to the lately deployed landing pad as the young heroine bore the Faunus in her arms like a baby.

Cheers erupted from a crowd of onlooker who had gathered unnoticed in the pandemonium. The cries of joy and whoops of victory came from all around. From her team. From the captain. Even from the ones who gunned the White Fang resistance down like dogs in the street. Especially them.

All the happy faces which thought they had faced the evils of war, and those who were tired of the prolonged bloodshed celebrated the minor victory. The small consolation which paled in comparison to the rest of the tragedy of blood spilt, and yet to be spilled. They reveled in the now, without thought of what necessarily came next.

"It's alright." Ruby cooed, bearing the surprisingly light young woman in her arms. "No one's going to hurt you, see? Why'd you have to go and do something like that, anyway?"

There was no reply. Just a flicker in the eye like the twitch of catlike ears on her head as the unnerving smile spread across the Faunus's face. A pair of mismatched eyes staring up at her laughingly.

* * *

"Damnit. We're too late."

The other two had to agree with the negative assessment. Although the bodies were still there to be analyzed, everything that they had to say could be seen simply by glancing over abandoned battlefield. The fresh corpses of fully armed and uniformed White Fang littered the open square, viscously dispatched in a multitude of ways. Burns and torn limbs, deep gouges and surgical cuts, peaceful death and those that clung desperately to life even as they struggled to hold their entrails in, cries still frozen on their faces.

All their deaths were equal though. And all equally accomplished, brutally efficient, and inexorably personal.

"That fight was already over by the time this 'Emerald' approached us." The ginger android justified while staring clinically at one of the recently deceased, an aging deer Faunus who halted in rigor mortis to ponder the loss of his legs.

"So it wasn't to delay us. What? Did she just want to stop and say 'hello'? Gloat about her exploits?" Sasuke muttered frustratingly, somehow feeling personally responsible for their lack of understanding. He even seemed to be letting the woman get deeper under his skin than Naruto was. The young man dutifully inspected the bodies starting with the one nearest.

"You said there were two groups, right?" He asked the gynoid while bending over to brush a stray lock of hair off the marred face of a woman with blue hair and gills.

"That is correct." Penny said, quickly scanning the littered square. "Emerald must have been covering for the other group as they made their retreat."

"I don't think so." This declaration stopped his other two teammates as they both turned their attention away from the bodies and to their fellow Faunus. "I think… the two groups are still here." He stood up slowly and pointed to the woman at his feet, and then slowly to several others laying scattered at random. "Those with masks, and those without."

Penny looked at the young man with her head cocked to the side while Sasuke narrowed his eyes pensively. Such a bold and ludicrous statement might have normally brought forth a condescending scoff from the young man, but he had since learned to trust his partner's more animal instincts.

"What makes you say that?"

"They are all Faunus," He stated absolutely. "but there's a clear pattern, see?" He pointed again to the seemingly random location of the mask-less fighters, and this time both machine and man caught on. There was indeed a correlation, too subtle to be random that placed the ones without the typical White Fang calling card on one side of the field.

"Interesting." The others might have used a subtler phraseology, but the succinct term fitted the android well enough. "What does it mean, though?"

"I don't know." Naruto sighed and shook his head, casting another sidelong glance at the reposed woman at his feet. She might have been sleeping, if not for the fan of blood haloed around her head. "It doesn't even make sense," he admitted. "if they were part of another group, why would they leave the bodies behind?"

That was one consideration that damned the blond's theory in the eyes of his comrades. But suddenly Penny's eyes perked up, looking out at the other side of the palisade.

"Perhaps they were driven away before they could collect them."

"What would make them run from their comrades, though?"

"That." The artificial woman pointed an arrow-like hand in the direction of her gaze, and the two shinobi the finally caught the subtle shifting within the elongated shadows cast by the far buildings. "It is just a theory."

They could count at least a score, and there were likely many more. The fact that they hadn't attacked yet meant that these Grimm had prudence, experience enough to make a few of them Alpha class at least.

"I guess we'll have to examine the stiffs later." Naruto smiled menacingly as he drew his dual knives, crouching low on the balls of his feet.

"Let's just hope they'll wait for us." Sasuke muttered his grim joke whilst drawing his blade that had yet to taste flesh that day.

They were, all of them, frustrated at the lack of answers that day, and even more so with the reappearance of a ghost from their past. They thought of their fellow students, hoping they were having a better day than they were. But doubted it.

They let that thought slip as they got ready for a cathartic workout. As they charged at the beasts headlong with a combined strength of their disillusions, they couldn't help but let the overarching question echo through their minds.

Just what the hell was going on?

* * *

Little did they know, that on the other side of the beady red eyes which bore down on them, somewhere on the other side of the blue ball on which they stood, the same question was being asked with the same disappointing lack of answers.

"What are you planning, Emerald?"

The crimson stare watched through the eyes of her 'pets', rueful smirk cut against the grain of her face.

"If you are going to be my enemy, I won't hesitate to cut you down."

She watched as the blond Faunus viciously plunged his daggers into either side of a Grimm's throat before turning as if looking through the veil that separated them and boring into her in the same manner. He pried the two blades backwards, separating the beast's head with a silent, wet pop. She smiled.

"And I suspect, I won't be the only one."

In the end, though, it was everyone for themselves.


	9. Self Saboteur Blues

**For some reason it feels like a long time since I've posted. I guess it means I have to take more breaks. But not yet. Sleep is for the week.**

* * *

"What can I say? Bad luck just sort of seems to…follow me."

It was uncanny how Glynda's 'amused face' looked identical to her 'annoyed face'. Either that, or she was finally ready to let him leave via the window. Provided she be the one to send him on his way.

Maybe he should have tagged along with the kiddies after all. The blond one's own rut of good fortune hadn't seemed to wane in the recent months. That is, if you counted running into mysterious old nemeses and hordes of unusually aggressive Grimm to be lucky. Though he had gotten to stretch his legs a little and take out some overripe frustrations, Naruto might disagree with the drunkard of malfortune.

"Anyway," Winter rolled her eyes at her reluctant partner's antics before ushering the debriefing along. " **We** didn't manage to find anything, but I hear that wasn't the case with the _other_ teams you sent out." She said, trying not to sound jealous of her juniors.

"No, I'd say they encountered quite a bit to sort through." The headmistress sighed, lightly pinching the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger. "I almost wish they hadn't though. I wish our enemies had the decency to lay low just a little bit longer." preferably forever "But now at least we have an idea of what is going on."

"We do?" Glynda leveled another one of her unamused glances at Qrow who threw his hands up in a gesture clearly reminding them that Ozpin had always been the one to spoon feed him the bigger picture after pre-digesting the intel he provided.

"Um," A nervous Winter scratched her cheek abashedly, hesitant to being lumped in the same boat as the man she detested. "I'm afraid I too am a little bit, _foggy_ on what is happening." Beacon's current leader arched an eyebrow that invoked an angry red hue on the military woman's cheeks. They both might have expected her to be a little bit swifter on the uptake, but that didn't stop her from being in the dark on this one.

"Look, why don't we start with the parts we don't know yet." Qrow interrupted, for once the mediator of common sense in the conversation. "Starting off with the two other team's reports. I want to know what happened with my nieces' team before I showed up."

"Fair enough."

Glynda shrugged, tapping a keyboard invisibly projected onto the desk which connured up a few different screens floating disconnected in the air above their heads. The first couple were different views of the same, familiar street. And the last, an animated mugshot of his youngest niece, nervously looking everywhere else but the camera and obviously struggling to find a beginning to an answer. The disembodied arms of her teammates drifted in and out of the frame, offering her support.

" _Well,"_ the recorded girl began as the images of still people in the other windows looking down on the street slowly crawled to life. _"It happened like this…"_

It was hard to believe that the red and black clad heroine on the left hand was the same as the timid girl on the right. What had happened between now and then unfolded now onscreen. Ruby's cape-cloaked frame landed with angelic lightness on the tarnished pavement. She looked every bit the accomplished huntress Qrow knew she wanted to be.

 _I know I disobeyed the police captain by acting…. And I know that I probably could have even put my team at risk by running up there by myself. It's just- there was like this voice inside my head, and I just couldn't ignore it."_

Even from the camera angle across the street an observer could see her body tense up unnaturally, hackles raised porcupine quills even as silent cheers resounded from all around celebrating her quick save.

" _A voice, like an instinct?"_ Glynda's prerecorded voice chimed in off-screen. _"Telling you to rescue her."_

You could see the moment when Ruby made to drop the equally petit woman in her arms. The lithe, prehensile cat-tail mutating into a lead-black cane in the arms of the once-suicidal White Fang.

" _No."_ Ruby's voice denied the past Glynda's supposition with a deadly vehemence, shaking her head.

" _Telling me to watch her die."_

The cane's tip struck Ruby square in the chest even as she leapt back to avoid it. Qrow winced as his niece struck the concrete pillar with a silent thunder which shook the glass surrounding it. He held his breath, when, in the very next instant the not-so-helpless victim practically skipped over to his kin who was on all fours, producing a razor-sharp blade that flickered like the red and blue emergency lights.

" _But I couldn't do that."_ The Ruby who once stood in that same room looked back at the camera directly for the first time. _"Even knowing what I do now, I would have done the same. I couldn't just stand by and let her die."_

The others had been too far away and too overcome with shock to be able to reach their captain in time. Although Blake certainly tried, chucking Gambol Shroud in an admirable attempt to redirect the impending execution strike. From the bird's eye view the camera angle afforded them, they could see it all happen simultaneously and knew that their efforts had always been in vain. It was all up to Ruby. It had always been up to her.

If anyone in the room had asked him later, Qrow would have denied ever feeling anxiousness while watching the recording. He would have said with assured confidence that he never doubted her for a second. He would be lying, of course. But not if he was expressing his devout pride in the girl's hard-won improvement she then proceeded to demonstrate. That was 100% pure kick-ass.

The on-screen Ruby was an explosion of motion as she fluidly shot her legs up through her chest and kicked out with what looked like enough force to topple a truck. The gymnastic mule-kick was certainly enough to catch the still unknown assailant off-guard, striking her as hard in the chest as she herself had dished out, and sent her careening through the corpse-speckled street and into the side of a waiting ambulance.

The rest of her team finally caught up to her, leaping over the haphazardly strewn bodies and over to their leader. Who, conversely, had already rushed past them and straight at the mysterious swordswoman who was picking herself off the ground amidst the paralyzed stares of police surrounding her.

For the most part, the camera was positioned in an inopportune way to coax out the enemy's identity. But after a series of fluid exchanges of strikes like dance steps, the diminutive assassin's face came into view. The whole room could see the crazed glint in her eyes as they could hear the maniacal cackle in her voice, the silent video making no difference.

" _Her_ …!"

Qrow looked over to see his partner simmer with barely-controlled rage as she gripped the edge of her seat, fixated on the recording. Her whole body was trembling, and her knuckles turned a degree whiter than they already were.

Qrow knew who the woman was. He had read her dossier cover to cover just like that of her former partner's. But the obvious animosity shown by the legendarily reserved woman was lost on him. But it was a matter to bring up later, If at all.

Turning back to his niece, he saw her go toe to toe with the other woman. Slashes carefully curtailed and kept within a tight arena to prevent any casualties from the unlucky spectators who were shocked into immobility. She judiciously kept her semblance in reserved and doled it out with extreme measure, slight boosts of speed here and there which were only noticeable to a keen eye. It was a privilege to watch her fight, and know that he had a hand in molding her.

She blocked with the flat of the blade, lashing out at Neapolitan with the butt and haft of Crescent Rose- any and every part of her weapon really, and mixing in hand-to-hand maneuvers that **he** sure as hell didn't teach her.

The two danced around one another, both ideally statured for such a fight as each sought to get within the other's guard. Neo held the slight advantage, however, being just that more aggressive. Ruby was also hampered by not being able to gain distance enough to take a potshot at the flighty girl.

They continued to be evenly matched for a while, the Beacon student countering the ballerina-like movements of the renegade criminal with her own gymnastics vaulted off Crescent Rose. But it was obvious she was losing ground in a battle measured by inches. It was only a matter of time before she proved a hair too slow.

Ruby blundered first, as dreaded yet expected. The blade of her scythe, while aiming to decapitate the smaller woman, hissed over the top and managed to get stuck in the same wall of the emergency medical vehicle, girlish indentation still visible. No matter how she tried, Ruby found herself unable to dislodge it.

Though as Neo almost gleefully pounced for the kill, Ruby threw herself into the air, balancing on her hands on the end of her unwavering weapon. One could see the tiny, round 'O' of the pink-haired girl's mouth as her blade passed nothing but air. Ruby then swung like an ape on the horizontal bar, slamming both her boots once again into Neo. This time, targeting her gaping face, and likely prompting an expensive trip to the dentist for the wayward swordswoman.

It looked like Neo hit the ground hard. Even from a spectator's view, it seemed like she wouldn't be getting up anytime soon.

Yet, adding to the list of extraordinary happenings that evening, the surprisingly resilient girl began to pick herself back up off the ground, whatever swollen and angry expression on her face was blocked by her cascading hair, mussed and tangled irreparably as blood dribbled from her forehead.

Ruby wasted no time in recovering herself. They could all see the visible strain of tension rippling across her body as she heaved on her weapon, prying it from its entrapment. The concave aluminum groaned outward, and the ambulance itself seemed to list to one side before it all came free with a combined tear and crack that could be felt even in the silent video.

Not trying to halt her overworked muscles and risk collapsing, Ruby continued with the momentum she had gained when finally released, and descended upon the unprepared Neo with a powerful slash that could have bisected an Atlassian Knight in one fell swoop. There was no stopping it. She didn't even try.

But then in the last second, as the numbers at the far right of the screen ticked down to zero, her eyes widened visibly and with all her remaining strength she diverted the guillotine to the side. The rudely displaced air but gently caressing the other woman's multicolored locks as it skimmed past.

What? Qrow asked himself as he stared at the frozen figures on the screen. Why did she stop? She should have known better by now than to let someone as dangerous as that live. Did her first kill really scar her that much?

" _It was all I could do to miss the strike. The voice kept egging me on, and finally I just couldn't fight it anymore."_

"She just couldn't do it." Winter bit out spitefully. Though it was as much at her own failure as it was for the girl's. If only she hadn't been so cocky that first time around…

" _But what I saw wasn't Neo. At the last second it was the same police officer I had seen before, the one that handed the captain the megaphone. I know it shouldn't have been possible, but I was so busy fighting off the urge that I couldn't think properly, and, well…"_

It wasn't as simple as they first thought. It never was.

Once again Winter cursed the troublesome semblance of the criminal. But what was this voice Ruby kept on about? It clearly wasn't a conscience, more like a battle instinct. It sounded almost like a separate entity to herself, diametrically opposed to her naturally benevolent inclinations.

Qrow had his own suspicions which he thought he had stifled with his practiced poker face. But the increasingly sly headmistress caught the slight narrowing of his eyes. She would be having words with him later about his young niece's condition.

Their explanation cooked up after the fact wasn't enough to stop the bedraggled woman from extracting vengeance in the past, though. Fully aware that Ruby was entrapped in her illusionary semblance, she deliberately and maliciously brought the tip of her sword to the Ruby's throat, taking her time and relishing in what was about to happen, third time being the charm.

It was then that the rest of team RWBY apparently decided that enough was enough. After evacuating the non-combatants from the area, including the police who at this point were more a hindrance than anything else, they attacked the single enemy en masse, quickly droving her back with overwhelming force. Neo held off their combined assault admirably for a while, but it was clear that she was hopelessly outmatched.

Victory seemed inevitable then. The other three quickly surrounded the woman amidst the bodies scattered in the street. She looked like a cornered animal as she lunged at each of them in turn, whenever one would get close. But still the three students closed in, each making their own overtures to entrap the now frenzied outlaw.

But before any of them could act on their intents, Neo stopped abruptly and kneeled down to the corpse at her feet. Vaulting upward in a fluid motion, a cylindrical object followed her trajectory into the air as all eyes traced its arc. Each of them widened in understanding a little too late.

Then the screen went white.

"… _And then I remember my team surrounding me. They didn't look happy, so I assumed the worst. But I was glad to find out she just got away and no one else got hurt."_

Qrow sighed and shook his head, letting his hands unclench from his knees. He was almost disappointed with the ending, despite it being better than their track record.

" _But still…. I don't think I would have done anything differently, If I had the chance."_

* * *

"So… what **do** we know?"

Qrow allowed himself a small, self-satisfied smirk as there was now someone in the room less informed than he. Of course, comparing himself to the blond Faunus who was half his age and admittedly suffering from a peculiar form of amnesia wasn't all that glorious if one stopped to think about it. So, he didn't, relishing in his superiority.

"Precious little, I'm afraid." Glynda was the fixed point in the room which kept a constant flow of people in and out. Everything revolved around her, and she decided who entered or was ejected from her orbit. She felt like the sun in the center of her own, bright little universe.

Hot, chaotic, bloated and under extreme amount of pressure, that is. She hated how her duties had basically become a desk job. But they had more important things to worry about now.

"Your team and Ruby's have been our only real source of contact in the recent months. Salem has been doing a better than normal job of keeping herself and her forces out of the limelight. And, if the distinction is to be believed, so has Emerald. Who, if we are to understand, has become the new Fall Maiden in place of Cinder."

"We definitely cannot trust her." Sasuke broke his silence as he folded his arms and legs whilst sitting in one of the chairs brought in to facilitate the extra bodies. It was going to be a long meeting, after all. "On that, and anything else she says."

"Say we do, though." Winter decided to interject her opinion. "Say we assume that she is working independently. We can assume that _other_ girl is in league with her too, can we not?" She didn't mention the name, even though she knew it by now. That scar was still fresh in her mind, after all.

"Looking back at the recordings, it's obvious that she was the one who set up the renegade White Fang, using her semblance to cast an illusion which made them think they had no choice but to attack the police. And from your report," She nodded to her Atlassian counterpart, much to the ire of the two Beacon students who felt like they were being snubbed. "It seems obvious that they have turned on the White Fang. Maybe that's where the division started?"

"Or it could just be part of the bigger plan." Qrow reasoned heavily, "It would be just like Salem to use an asset and then dump it as soon as it becomes a burden. Hell, she might have planned the whole thing out from the beginning. I wouldn't put it past her."

"Oi! You're still ignoring the fact that it wasn't just White Fang we found in Mountain Glenn." Though he was tired of being ignored, it was the fact that everyone seemed to be dangerously ignoring this observation which got Naruto fired up.

"That remains to be seen." Winter finally acknowledged him, though with a less than favorable regard. "It's pure speculation at this point. You can't make a conjecture based on something so small and have people take you seriously. You need more evidence than just 'a gut feeling'."

Before Sasuke found need to restrain his partner from saying or doing something unproductive, he was rescued by the third member of their expedition who, much to the shock of her 'superior officer', contradicted her.

"Actually, that is not entirely true, Lieutenant." Penny spoke up with mathematical surety. "It is highly probable that Naruto is correct. I have been reviewing the images I collected and correlating them with the Atlas Military Intelligence Division's suspect list." Her eyes twitched back and forth in stark contrast to her body's stillness as she reviewed her internal list, synapsis snapping like whips.

Naruto elbowed his friend, giving him a knowing smirk. Sasuke rolled his eyes, reminding Naruto that it was pure luck Penny had been with them to corroborate his story.

"I am certain to within 95% probability that the bodies of the White Fang we encountered, specifically the ones with the full uniform, were not from the Vale chapter, but came instead from Mistral."

"A rescue team?" Winter narrowed her eyes.

"Or an invasion." The man with a propensity for the worst possible outcome mumbled by her side.

"I am not sure." Penny said, looking more confused as to why her hands were wringing in her lap than as to why at least two groups of terrorists were within the kingdom of Vale.

"Either way, it is worth noting that they were there. The question then becomes: what happened?" Glynda said, forwarding the conversation. "Did they have a falling out?"

"Evident wounds might suggest that is the case." The android reasoned, recalling the predominance of slashes and punctures on the bodies.

"Could it have been Emerald casting an illusion on them, like we're assuming Neo did?" Sasuke questioned lowly, while ignoring Winter's flinch.

"Possible." Again, the rational mind of the gynoid provided a noncommittal response, before she frowned, perhaps revisiting that opinion through a different algorithm. "But is it likely? Some bodies did have highly evident burns on them. Not all fatal, though."

"So she was playing with them…" Qrow growled lowly. It was almost a personal offence to him that the Fall Maiden should be causing such cruel destruction, even to such morally reprehensible individuals. It was a failure he took upon himself, given that Ozpin wasn't alive to share it with him.

"That's the only possible explanation." The raven-haired teen knew what he was talking about, having been more than a witness to such cruelty. "She had clear control over her Maiden powers, so there would be no reason for her to merely injure them if they were trapped in her illusion and helpless to her attacks."

"So, they were all completely aware while they burned," Winter trailed away, a haunted look in her eyes as she remembered a similar incident.

"And all with their full volition while they cut one another down." Sasuke spoke as he too was swept along with everyone taking a train ride to a dark past.

In the ensuing lull, while most eyes were staring into empty space or at the inoffensive floor, Naruto caught Qrow's furtive gaze. In the seconds that followed he spoke more in silence than he had during the entirety of the previous debate.

'Do you think that our enemies know?' his eyes seemed to say. 'Do you think they know about me? About Ruby? About the Fox?'

Qrow sighed and reached for the flask that wasn't there. Glynda putting her foot down for once and demanding a sober huntsman be present at their group briefing.

"I'm worried about Ruby." He blurted out to the teen's surprise. And evidently to the surprise of everyone else, who were quickly shifted onto the new set of tracks and came screeching around the bend to stare at him with staggered looks.

"Uh, I mean. I'm worried that they'll become suspicious about the legend of those with silver eyes." He stumbled from his potential slip, relinquishing another bit of guarded info and passing the buck off to Glynda who was the only other one in the room who knew anything about that esoteric topic.

She sighed and held up a hand to defer the potential uproar, sending a blanketed statement to the room that the topic would be discussed later. Naruto meanwhile was one step away from tearing his ears off, trying his best to restrain his visible discomfort to a bladder-stretching fidget in his seat while looking at the older man with a combination of fury and anxiety. He hadn't known anything about the silver-eyes either, and now his concern for his friend had jumped exponentially.

"We still don't know what their ultimate goal is yet, so it seems pointless to try and guess randomly at their current objectives." The headmistress reasoned coolly, wondering if having a sober Qrow was worth it after all. He seemed higher strung when not on the beast.

"Anarchy."

The room once again turned in mild shock to the ginger humanoid who with a simple phrase answered one question and raised all kinds of others.

"That's what Emerald claimed, at least." Naruto grimaced, remembering the verdette's parting words.

"That's more or less what Salem's after too." Qrow, eager to move on from his mistake supplied. "One more reason why the two could be working together.

"More or less is not the same, though."

Glynda's thoughts grew darker, drawing in on herself and down to the deepest bowls of the Academy. Far beneath the tower, past the backfill made from the shattered remains of Amity coliseum. Further down than even the original caverns had been, buried deep within the bedrock where a quintessential power laid out of arm's reach. Qrow nodded in support.

"Salem's goal is to create chaos in order to consolidate power in herself, not chaos for the sake of it."

"Salem's still after the relic." Glynda nailed the statement on the door for all of the to see. "She'll try to go after it again. She wants us to be fighting one another. She allowed or sent the foreign White Fang to test the defenses, thinking ahead to another attack."

"Then…Emerald's ambush wasn't for us."

"It was for her."

They let this latest thought sink into skulls already saturated with information. All their previous scenarios fell away and were buried in liquefaction. The implications like ripples sunk deep through the collective minds and ran far away into future and past.

"Well, I need a drink."

Qrow slapped his legs and stood up abruptly, startling the room and earning him glares from the two high-strung females. Winter excused herself next, presumably to make a few calls back to base, but also likely checking in on her partner to ensure he didn't drink himself into a stupor. Maybe get a drink herself. It was obvious that they all could do with a break to parse out what they had learned.

"You ready to go, Naruto?" Sasuke offered, knowing that he himself already felt incredibly fatigued form the heavy conversation and the mission that preceded it.

"Hm? What?" Naruto stirred at the verbal prompt, having been lost in tributary of parallel thoughts. All of which centered around Ruby, how much she knew of what was going on, and more importantly: how much he should tell her.

"Uh yeah, I need to go. There's… something I need to do."

Knowing he was being shut out of the young man's concerns once again didn't feel good. But he understood it. He nodded solemnly, and as if he had been waiting for just such permission, Naruto reciprocated the gesture, darting off towards the elevator.

He stood languorously, shoving his hands in his pockets, unsure of where to place them as he was of where to go himself. He turned to look at the headmistress who might provide him with something worthwhile to occupy his sudden afternoon off.

"You may go."

He shut his mouth which had been barely ajar, rejection weighing more on his confidence than his humor this time, and he turned leave, the only thing he knew for sure he should do.

He was immediately confronted with the vacant smile of Penny as she appeared to be waiting for him over by the elevator. He reluctantly joined her in the small space, pointedly ignoring her stare which was boring into him. It was just a matter of time.

"So, do you wish to go paint our nails and talk about boys?"

With this oblivious statement put forth against a heavy groan, the callous doors slid shut, deadening any potential screams.

Glynda pushed back from the now oppressive desk, leaning back in the chair which bore her familiar indentations and stared fixatedly at the ceiling. The gears like some baby's mobile rotated in their eccentric orbits above her, calming her in their aimless tumble, but also trapping her in that same infinitely complex system.

Was this what their world was like? Ozpin had thought so. He had believed in two gods, who like clockmakers put forth both Mankind and Grimm into this predictable mechanism, to progress evenly side by side and intertwined for each and every turning of that wheel. Forever enmeshed, good and evil.

Real life wasn't like that.

Life was anarchy against anarchy. Chaos begetting chaos. Good and bad were just the shadows of what had come to pass.

Ever since the two young men from another dimension had entered their lives, nothing had been making sense. Like a wedge jammed into their machine, the fabric was coming undone.

Salem wanted to interrupt this carefully sculpted procession as well. Maybe the world had sent them to correct it? Or maybe the world was trying to correct them, foreign pathogens entering the flow of things and marked for destruction the moment they had set foot in Vale.

And maybe it was just an illusion. Maybe things didn't need to make sense. Maybe sense and reason were only a crutch they had developed. The curtain of cause and effect alone was finally being lifted in preparation for the final act of their tragic comedy.

One thing was for sure. Whatever the world had become, they were now well and truly mired in it. Trapped in this life which had become a death spiral, they couldn't see the beginning nor the end. Nor even a way out. They talked, yelled out across the expanse, but couldn't hear one another above the buffeting wind. Entropy was having its way and the whole thing threatening to tear itself apart.

Everything was going to pieces.

Flesh to flesh, ashes to ashes and dust to dust. To begin again once they were all gone.

* * *

"Hey guys!"

The four young women stopped and turned abruptly, facing the bright hello with as much enthusiasm as they could muster. Each gave him a small smile and their unique greeting, which Naruto recoiled at, guiltily hearing the underlying fatigue in each.

"Hey Whiskers," Yang replied last, continuing with just a degree more energy than the others. "What's up?"

"I… heard you just got back from your mission as well." They all visibly drooped at being forced to remember the recent event. It was a success only on paper.

"Yeah, do you mind if we talk about that later?" Blake was always the most reluctant to chat in general. But she answered for her whole team who quickly agreed with her with short but emphatic nods.

"Yeah, of course." Naruto let his own smile falter after seeing its unsuitability. "I'd…like to talk to Ruby, later, though, if I could?" Asking permission from the girl's team as much from herself.

The other three looked to their leader with mild suspicion and concern. Even her sister was at a loss as to how to respond. Usually she would tease the girl unmercifully at the smallest provocation and this recent increase in attention was a huge one to exploit. But at the same time, things happened which lingered like a fog of melancholy, making it impossible to see the silver lining. Her sister's relationship which seemed to be blooming at the same time was morphing into a conspiracy, adding one more dark cloud to their perpetual rainy day.

But these two were the people they relied on in the hard times. They were the sunshine which banished the rain. They had no choice but to accept whatever secrets lay between them. Ruby gave each of them a heartening smile and nodded at her blond friend, already suspecting what this talk might be about. If he thought it could wait until later, it wasn't of immediate concern.

"Sure." He reinstated his own uplifting smile at the confirmation while the others waited patiently. "I think now, though, we need to spend some time together as a team."

There it was: their reassurance. Weiss in particular looked at her leader with a conglomeration of surprise and admiration. And admittedly, a little bit of dread, wondering what that 'quality time' would entail.

"Yeah, sure, you do that." Naruto took off the opposite direction, suddenly aware that he had his own teammate who needed his company. Whether he knew it or not. "See you guys later!"

"Ugh, I need a shower." Blake bemoaned, renewing their march back to their room which was down the hall but still so far away. The others agreed with her but argued on if sleep came first.

"I think I'll just crash, worry about that later." Yang stated without so much as a peep out of Weiss for her gross habits.

"A rest is good." The youngest piped up. "But afterwards, I think we need to revisit some team exercises. Get some more training in."

The group once again froze in the hallway, bemused at the lack of fatigue displayed by their youngest, the one who had admittedly done the most work that day. Astounded by the sudden flowering of responsibility in the once childish rose.

"Who are you, and what have you done with my sister?" Yang tried scraping up some humor, but faltered in the execution and the joke fell flat.

Ruby flinched, trying not to take the statement literally. She turned around down the hall so that they could not see her moment of pain, before she turned back around with a borrowed smile on her face.

"I'm still me, just… more."

"Can I ask you something?"

Winter blinked as she stared at the pristine marble countertop through the pale-yellow liquid in her glass, not expecting to hear the smoothly honed voice again so soon. And never sounding so tired.

"Um, of course." She placed a hand over her the rim of her drink, politely refusing the bartender's offer for a refill. "What would you like to ask me, Ma'am?"

"Please don't call me that." The blonde grimaced harshly, sliding the drink she had not ordered closer to herself and staring into its amber depths.

"Fine," Winter sighed, in no mood to argue. She had changed bars specifically to avoid having to do that. Her 'partner' was off somewhere on his lonesome, presumably drinking himself into oblivion. "What should I call you then? Ms. Goodwitch?" She narrowed her eyes suspiciously and slid a little away from the woman in her stool. "Not Glynda, surely."

"Honestly, I don't care." The impeccably reserved woman raised the glass to eye level, watching the way the fiery liquor clung to the sides of the glass as she swirled it slowly. "Just don't call me 'ma'am'."

For some reason Winter expected her to down the potent drink in one gulp. Instead, she took a measured sip as one might expect from an aficionado, one who clearly did so for pleasure and not to get drunk. One who still wanted to keep a level head about them.

"Alright, so, what's the question?" Winter sighed, mimicking the gesture with what remained of her house white wine.

"Does you think he hates me, now?"

For the second time now that afternoon had bled into night, Winter was surprised with a facet she didn't expect.

"Who hates you?"

"Your boss, of course."

Ironwood. For a second, she thought the woman had meant someone else.

Her commanding officer, and one of Ozpin's closest associates. Had they been friends? Had they been close enough that the general would even consider an emotion as expensive as hate? Did any of that extend now to the new headmistress. Hell if she knew.

"I really don't know how you expect me to answer that." The off-duty officer for a moment regretted not sticking with Qrow on his pub-crawl. At least his behavior she could predict, and had learned to ignore.

"I expect you to answer me honestly." Glynda spoke with a voice as cold and smooth as the brandy in front of her. "I want to know if I can rely on him, if he'll listen to what I have to say, and consider putting aside his personal loyalties to do what I- what the world needs him to do."

At first Winter had toyed with the idea that Glynda might have had a few drinks before paying her a visit. Now she banished the thought as the conversation turned sober.

"The General is a practical man. I think he understands why you wanted him away. I don't think he's the type to hold a grudge"

"You don't, do you?" Glynda scoffed, "I would have thought you of all people would be less naïve." Despite herself, Winter found she had taken deep offense to this depreciating summary. "I guess Qrow was right, though. You are just a dutiful soldier. I hope for her sake that your sister proves more discerning."

"The General ordered me here." Winter hissed out, her grip on the stem of the wine glass growing dangerously tight. "I don't think he would have done so if you were not in his good graces." Though she was finding it harder to see why.

"You don't think he would have sent you regardless, if it benefitted him?" She asked with a condescending brow raised. Winter felt like a schoolgirl under that stare. She hated it. "You don't think that he could have sent you on behalf of his own interests? Of Atlas's? Of your father's, even?" She patiently shook her head and took another measured sip. "I thought you were smarter than that."

"Look, what is this about?" Winter growled out lowly, careful to watch her right hand which she had removed from the wine glass and shook in a white-knuckled clench upon the counter. "What do you really want to ask me?"

She swore she saw the woman's mouth upturn in a satisfied smile before that proud ship was dashed on the rocks.

"Look how easy it is for people to make enemies of one another. Do you hate me now?"

"No."

The Schnee answered honestly, though it felt bitter like a lie. "I assume you want to know if you can trust me. If you can trust Ironwood. No, I don't hate you, and I doubt the general does either. Even if we did, though, even if the rest of the word hated your guts the way I'm sure students cower in fear of you, anyone with half a mind would know that you have a better grip on things than the vast majority of those in a position to do anything."

"Then let's start again. People like you and me should know better than to step on one another's toes. Think how easy it would be for our enemies to divide us, our Kingdoms, our peoples if we let them." She shook her head, downing the remaining sip in her glass before signaling the barman with the wave of her finger. She stared at the second round a long time before speaking again, and Winter found herself obliged to take all the time she needed.

"I suppose I don't care if he hates me. It'd be a lie to say that I wouldn't care if the world hated me. But if I can do something, one small thing to make the world a better place, it would all be worth it." She looked at the other woman and Winter was surprised to find herself privy to a side of the headmistress she was sure few had ever beheld. A more friable side, brittle without something or someone to prop her up.

"I…I need help, though. I still feel like I'm doing this all alone. I need to know whom I can trust."

She wasn't sure what it was about the ordeal, be it the strenuous day before them, the topic which hit close to the chest, or the number of libations which had managed to increase without her notice.

"I guess that is the thing about being a soldier, you put all of your eggs in one basket and hope you are doing the right thing." Winter stared at her own magically topped-off glass of white wine with a longing for simpler times, the ones she imagined she'd had when she was a cadet.

"So, do you think you have?" Winter shifted her head which rested in her hand to look at Glynda. "Done the right thing, I mean."

"Mmm, too late now I suppose." Too much blood on her hands to wash off. Too many mistakes to say for sure. The story was already written for most of them.

"Or too soon." History would be the ultimate judge. It would winnow out the pages into right and wrong. What survived, and what did not.

"Yeah."

They each stared blandly at their individual glasses, unsure of where to go from here. It had started as a whim. The direction the conversation had taken was winding and long and there was never any map for where they were now.

"To doing some good?" Winter raised her glass tentatively, a toast to something she had a hard time believing in, but wanted to.

"Hm. To leaps of faith, perhaps."

The glasses tinkled amidst the unburdened cheer and merriment going on around them. Every one of the bystanders unknowingly putting their faith in the handful of people who never had the choice not to care.

* * *

This was the end.

Everything was dark and silent except for the light hiss of breathing close upon another's skin, the irritating buzz of white noise, and the gentle glow which showed that there was still life in that black box.

Then the credits rolled, and the only one still awake quickly snatched the remote from where it lay nose-down in the popcorn bowl and jammed the greasy buttons before the music could start. The obnoxious theme would surely wake the others who had dozed off somewhere in the last half of the film.

Come to think of it, maybe she had too. She couldn't remember when they had started to watch, or even what the movie had been about. Perhaps if she caught a snippet of the melody, it might recall the last several hours. But the only thing available to her were the slowly scrolling words. The names of people and places which meant nothing to her, and the sound that was so low that she could only pick out the highest of notes as it warbled in protest through the speakers.

She nearly leapt at the sudden buzz of her scroll, the muted rumble was like a fire alarm when compared to the relative silence of the room. She jumped quickly to her feat, hopping unbalanced on her tiptoes over her teammates' slumbering forms, all piled on one another in the center of the room. Picking her way over to the bathroom, she quietly shut herself in and finally looked at the incoming message.

'You still awake Ruby?'

She strove to find context, her mind still vegetating after the film. She blinked thoughtlessly at the brilliant glowing screen. Her mind must really not be working well, because she couldn't even recognize the associated number. There was no name alongside it either, so it wasn't anyone on her contacts list.

'Yeah. Still up.' She typed back quickly regardless, glancing at the small clock at the upper right of the screen to see that it was still early. At least by teenage standards.

'Can we talk?'

She wondered what they had been doing just now if not that, but then realized whomever it was meant in person, and it became all the more important to associate a face to the words.

Then she realized. A recollection of early that day, which felt like it had been last week, reminded her Naruto had something he thought she should know. As she quickly typed her answer, she struggled to maintain the relaxed feeling that had come from watching the inanity alongside her team, and not succumb to the brewing anxiety now that the period of relaxation was over.

His response accompanied by instructions came back almost instantly. So, she shut her scroll and tucked it in one of the few pockets her clothes provided, taking a quick once-over look at herself to check that she was decent enough for the late-night encounter. She hadn't changed since her mission, so while it was not too intimate, it was hardly clean.

Oh well. He may have been a Faunus, but he was a guy. He could deal with it.

As she made her way out of the accommodations, she paused to grab her weapon which sat propped up against the foot of her bed. It was unlikely that anything would happen to her within the school grounds, but she wasn't about to test that theory. It wasn't considered paranoia if someone was after you.

She nearly made it to the door thinking she knew what to expect. Her hand cautiously twisted the knob to mute its usual, intolerable squeak. The door cracked and she paused as a stray thought crossed her path.

When had Naruto learned to use his scroll?

"Hey, you made it."

The knot which had been steadily tightening in her chest since receiving the summons suddenly slipped loose as she was treated to one of his rejuvenating smiles- a real, honest to goodness one.

The short trip to the roof had become inexorably long, as for whatever reason it seemed like she had forgotten what her friend was really like. Each step had slowly wiped away what she counted on to be true. Memories which surrounded the blond-haired teen swirled together past, present, and her deepest fears.

But now that she was back in front of him, it was like he had never left, and once again like he had always been there since the day she was born.

"Hey, Naruto." He twisted around further to face her, patting the square of tile next to him which looked ever so inviting in this unusually warm and clear autumn night. She felt herself brighten as she took a step out onto the widow's walk and the brilliant moonlight.

Then the darkness hit.

It came on like sledgehammer to her heart. The stars' twinkling turned to glass shards, the warmth of the night turned to fire and the welcoming smile turned to vicious fangs as she forced another pace out of herself. It was like she had become a werewolf under the shattered moon, and she struggled to figure out what was going on.

She continued moving towards her friend who was entirely ignorant of the turmoil going on inside her head. She was still drawn towards him, but it was not her who moved those feet. It was not her who strove to break free and run to him, leap at him, bury her bare hands in his blond locks and rip those hypocritical ears right out of his-

NO!

She swallowed whatever twisted instinct had forcibly occupied her head and still pressed on, for she could do nothing else. Step by labored step, each so frustratingly long, and yet not long enough. What would happen when she finally got within arm's reach of him? Would she cling to him like a life raft, or squeeze the life out of him? She had never felt such strong negative emotion before, and so had no idea how to cope with its sudden and irrational onset.

Was this what Grimm felt like?

"Are you alright Ruby?" Naruto was on the balls of his feet in an instant, worry swapping out serenity as he recognized that something was wrong with his precious person. It happened right before he realized there was something wrong with himself. Fight or flight pounded at his chest, with the latter almost impossible to resist as she drew nearer, and the choice drew closer to making itself.

Both still held their course. They clung to the rational that this was all an illusion, and the only thing they could trust was one another. These strange wants overlapped their own desires so that they ignored reason. As well as the third voice, whispering right along in harmony and encouraging those morbid desires.

Somehow, she made it over to the railing and sat down as close as she dared next to him. Where once she might have dangled her legs carelessly through the wrought iron railing, she instead gripped it roughly as if to rip it out of the housing. She sat down cross-legged whilst squeezing her eyes shut to try and block out the other stimulations which proved too much for her right then.

He reached a hand over to her, despite the part that told him not to.

"Ruby, are you ok-?"

"Don't touch me!" She snarled, eyes snapping open and boring out at him. Warning him not to get any closer, even though every part of her wanted him to. "Please…" She managed to force out through clenched teeth.

Naruto meanwhile continued to struggle against his own inclinations. It wasn't hard to retract his hand in the split second it felt like it was going to be bitten off, but it was harder not to leap back up to his feet and throw himself over the railing. The only thing keeping him in that most dangerous of positions stared back out at him from what were once silvery coins.

Now they were sharp as diamonds. Gems levied with blood.

"The Kyuubi…"

The knowledge dawned like the adrenaline rush he felt when Ruby had gotten near to him. It snuck through the cracks unnoticed until he called on it. Other true memories edged to the front, shouldering out the sophistries.

Suddenly he had all of it back, or at least he thought he did. He didn't have time to sort through what parts had been returned to him. That was still the past. It wouldn't have changed the fact that he was no longer its host.

"Ruby, you have to fight it." He felt himself swallow against the urges, fighting too against their domineering magnetism, sweetly addictive like poison.

The girl blinked confusedly, hands which had squeezed the parallel bars until they crossed, retreated back and coiled around her slender frame as she withdrew in on herself physically and mentally. Eyes squeezed shut to block out all else but that incessant voice which demanded, insisted, begged her to just reach out and never let go. It was a hard request to deny.

"What's going on with me?"

"I-I don't know." He now fought against tears as well, helplessly watching the painful battle waging across her face. He desperately wanted to reach out and wrap his arms around her, but both her words and his instinct told him not to.

"Have you talked to it yet? Can you tell it to lay off?" As if dredging up a dream, he unearthed the handful of times he had interacted with the fox. None of them were pleasant. But it was worth a shot. What was it Qrow had said about those with silver eyes?

"Okay. I'll try." Though that was easier said than done. She had no recollection of how she ended up in that cavern next to the fox the first time. Nor had she ever attempted meditation, which seemed like it would be the optimum remedy for this situation. If there was a next time, she would be sure to practice beforehand.

"Give'em hell. Put that fuzzy bastard in his place."

He couldn't help himself. He had to reassure his own certainty. He fought against the incessant tide and reached over to lay what was supposed to be a comforting hand on her shoulder. Despite his best intentions, it was the wrong thing to do.

She screamed.

It was too late to reverse his folly, though. His hand clamped down automatically on her shoulder as it became something more bestial. It became not his, nails which rapidly grew dug deep into her flesh. But it was not what was causing the scream which tore through the night.

A hand was emerging from Ruby's stomach. A claw, black and jagged, malformed like a child's cartoon but unmistakable in its iconic form like a hieroglyph of hate. It was reaching across the scant bridge between the two, worming across the space unknowingly forged from their palpable fear.

But they couldn't help it, couldn't stop the hook-like hands from lunging at the mirrored seal on the young man's stomach and finding purchase there.

"NO!"

This second denial rang through the night as sharp and as formidable as the cry of pain. Pain, which was nothing compared to fear. Fear of succumbing. Fear of losing. Fear of having another one of her friends stolen from her, those precious people who made life worth living. Fear, that was nothing compared to determination.

Determination which denied that fear. Resolve which percolated up from the hidden depths of her heart outing the entity which fed on the darker energies. Fortitude which spanned more than the distance between the two, and stretched far into the past and future. Grit which refused to give an inch to that parasitic lifeform that corrupted all that was good.

The night sky which had taken on a sunset hue, suddenly burst into a silvery explosion as if dawn had broken right over Beacon. Everyone who had been sleeping would wake in the unbending burst of light, upset with alack and alarm.

And then all was still.

The two teens sat up, braced against their hands at opposite ends of the veranda. Sound and sight came back reluctantly into that starkly opposed darkness. The first thing they saw was the charcoal disembodied arm laying there between them, slowly dissolving into a smoky dust like every other Grimm before it. The first thing they heard was the outraged cry of the beast, echoing like the forgotten movie through their heads.

"Ruby!"

Naruto was the first on his feet, even though his balance was still thoroughly out of whack from whatever the silver-eyed girl had done. He scrambled, stumbling over to the downed girl despite her protests. He paused, if only briefly, the knowledge of what had happened the first time he had done so not so easily forgotten. But still able to be ignored. He said fuck it all and knelt by her side, helping her to sit up.

"W-what?" She nearly cried when nothing happened. But they would not be tears of joy yet.

"I guess you scared him off." Naruto smiled guardedly down at her, equally baffled by the night's adventure which was apparently over. "For now." But he was still not so ignorant as to dismiss it as entirely done with.

"Is this what I have to look forward to?!" She all but screamed into his face and he took it with unwavering strength. "Is this what you went through? How do I deal with this? I don't even know what I did just now to stop it!

"I never asked for this!"

She broke down, gripping the fabric of his shirt in her clenched fists as she cried uncontrollably into his shoulder. Hiccupping sobs wracked her as she tried to wrest control of her body once again. But she had used up all her willpower holding the fox at bay. She had none left to spare for herself.

So she borrowed some from Naruto, who could do nothing else but offer a shoulder to cry on as he watched her back heave helplessly. Whether she knew it or not, it was equally hard for him. By some strange property of their shared seal, he regained his true memories within her proximity.

She held his essence at bay, in the same seal that held the fox. Both had needed time to reform and sort themselves out. So now the Kyuubi remembered what it was, in the same way he did.

And so he knew her pain. He knew everything, having been on both sides of the gallows. But would he retain it? Or was it his only as long as he was next to her? Could he afford to do that when the fox decided to make another attempt? There were no doubts it would try again, and so they could never let down their guards.

He could still do nothing, forced to watch the same scene play out over and over again from different vantages. If he could, he would gladly be the one under the blade. He would do whatever he could to take the burden from her. But he couldn't.

He hadn't chosen this, either.

"It'll be okay, Ruby. I'm here." She had run out of tears, the ones she had shed soaked and dribbled down his shoulder, and he wished he could cry with her. Now her body just shook in silent spasms. "I'll always be here. I promise."

The small door which lead down from the roof was slammed back as the lanky form of Oobleck ducked through the portal.

"What's going on here?" He demanded, hawk-like gaze scanning the darkened rooftop in search of enemies which might be lurking in the shadows. He was quick to see that this was not the issue, and so retracted his weapon back into its thermos housing as he took stock of the two students huddled in the middle of the walkway.

"Are you two alright?" His concern rang through, along with carefully hidden wariness as he realized whom had caused the disturbance.

"No." Naruto shook his head while continuing to hold the girl who had discharged everything and now slept restively in his arms. "We need help."

* * *

"Tell me, are you drinking to celebrate this time?"

Qrow chuckled hollowly as he contemplated the remainder of his glass, a warm glow spread across his face as he watched his grotesque reflection in the myriad of bottles across the counter.

"Sure. Why not?"

He slammed back whatever the poison in his glass had been, signaling the wary bartender for another of the same without looking at his recent guest. He didn't need to. He just continued to focus on the drink in front of him and the one he would consume next. He wasn't worried she would try to poison him. If she hadn't done it yet, she wouldn't now.

"Mind if I join you?"

As long as it was the two of them in hell, he was alright with that. Any time she was happy was sure to cause grievance to him. He was sure she was mocking him now, smug and comfortable with her position knowing something and holding it over him. She would say it was fair, considering their last encounter.

"What are we celebrating?"

He asked, noticing for the first time that she had managed to acquire her own drink. Probably something she stole. She had never been the type to go in for 'girly' drinks.

"How about, to mutually beneficial deals?"

"Ha!" Qrow barked out heartily, nearly tumbling backwards off his stool. "Anyone who makes a bargain with you doesn't do it for their own benefit." But he was not nearly as drunk as she perhaps thought he was. "What the hell are you playing at Raven? You know there's no way in hell I'd ever deal with you unless my life depended on it. And even then, I'd have to think rather hard on it. You'd be doing me a favor by ending this _relationship_."

He subtly reached for his weapon at the small of his back, doubtless that his sister saw him do so.

"Unfortunately for you, though, I am still mucking about, giving life another chance. So if it's my life you're here for, I'm afraid you're out of luck."

"Don't be so dramatic, Qrow." Raven rolled her unmasked eyes, taking a sip of her drink before pausing to consider the taste. She shrugged her shoulders as the sweet potion hit her tongue, and set the remainder back on the counter. "There is a serious offer I want you to consider."

"Well, out with it. I don't have all night." To emphasize his point, he slammed the thick brown quarter-pint back in a couple gulps. Another was put in front of him without him lifting a finger.

"The Spring Maiden."

"What?"

He was glad that he hadn't yet put the newest glass to his lips. He might have choked on it. That would have been a fitting epitaph for his gravestone, but he didn't want to make that purchase just yet.

He knew, or was at least very sure that his sister had cajoled the naïve girl into her merry little band. It was yet another black mark on his record that he had allowed to happen under his watch. He had been working himself up to the fact that he would have to confront it at some point, and hadn't been looking forward to it. But now his sister was not only disclosing the fact that she had the Spring Maiden, but appeared willing to bargain for her.

Putting aside his qualms about exchanging value for a willing human life, he decided to entertain his sister in her grand plot.

"You'd be willing to exchange her." He stated, waiting for a contradiction which was drowned as his sister took another experimental sip from her drink, the flavor apparently growing on her. "Pray tell, what do you want for her?"

There was no use playing hardball with Raven. She knew just what the Maidens represented in the grand scheme of things. They each held the key to ¼ of the power left to humanity by the gods. By having her in her back pocket, Raven was securing herself an asset as well as denying it to either of the two factions which had a vested interest. The fact that she was now willing to relinquish her to Qrow was something. It meant that she had at least some miniscule belief that their faction had a chance of victory. More than Salem did at least.

He considered she might be lying. He assumed she might have more in mind than a simple exchange. What he didn't consider, was that perhaps she had her sights set on something she considered more valuable.

"I want Ruby."

This time Qrow nearly did draw his blade, sister or no, public area or no, he wanted to kill her for even suggesting such a thing. But she anticipated his reaction, and even if he didn't want to admit it, his reactions were slowed just a smidge by the alcohol in his system. Without even getting out of her stool, she leaned over and caught the hand that had been reaching for his weapon, twisting it upward painfully and firmly pressing her brother down in his stool with her other hand before he could try to distance himself from her.

"Relax, Qrow." She chuckled condescendingly as if it were a mere sibling's squabble, as he fought futilely in her grip. He still didn't want to cause a scene, and anything he did now to break out of her grip was sure to endanger the other bar patrons.

"It's not such an unreasonable request, is it? She's my niece too, as much as she is yours. Summer was also more of my friend, I have as much a right to her as anyone. Besides…" She leaned over closer to him and whispered into his ear.

"Do you really think you can handle the Nine-Tailed Fox inside of her?"

* * *

It had failed once again. It should have known better. It had known better the first time, and warned itself to take things slowly the next go around.

It had been wounded for its efforts. Just a scratch. But it had been hard to resist, and in the end, it was worth it to be so close to freedom. It was worth it to test its limits. The arm would grow back in time.

And with time would come more patience, more trickery and wisdom. It held the advantage. Even the two of them, despite fighting against it, were unknowingly on its side.

They needed one another, as much as it needed them. Though they still didn't understand that yet.

It could wait. It needed to wait. The two could only stay apart for so long. Humans considered that defect a strength. Fools. It was only a matter of time before they realized that mistaken conception.

Time, was forever on its side.

* * *

The next day came too quickly for many of them. Some dealing with hangovers, some dealing with nightmares plaguing their dreams, and some not able to get any sleep at all as fear of destruction hounded their every waking moment.

Some like Sasuke felt that the day had taken too long to arrive. But this isn't about him.

He and Naruto stood with the other second-year students in the Grand Hall. The same room that bore witness to epic food-fights and awkward dances alike now had all the wooden tables and benches shoved aside to accommodate what looked to be the entire population of the school. The students lined up in rows ahead of the teachers. Team RWBY and the two of them, with their plus one, were at either ends of the room.

Sasuke felt himself curious as to the occasion, but also what had transpired to make his comrade look so bedraggled this late in the morning. Maybe it was time to put his foot down and get some answers.

Goodwitch's soft cough was like the smashing of a gavel as all the corollary chatter died away. She approached the specially erected podium with a grim air about her, one more serious even than what she had been infamous for. If there had been any students not yet paying attention, they were now.

She had her head bowed and her eyes closed when she approached, but now she opened them with her gaze directly fixed on their row. Whether they knew it or not, she was counting on them.

"Good morning students." She started innocuously, giving nothing away only by virtue of years' experience.

"It is a good morning. Though some of you may not see what is so special about it, I want to take a little time today so that you may understand what I mean, if not appreciate it." The language was strange, abnormal, but if there was a wisecracker in the audience he remained pointedly silent.

"Today is a day unlike any other, and you are all lucky for that to be the case. This was not so in your parent's time, and, if the worse comes to pass, it will no longer be this way." What had started in a light tone had quickly become weighted down to match her demeanor, as some of the brighter, or more well informed, could see where this was headed.

"Before most of you were born, not long before, mind, our world was at war. Peaceful days like this were scarce, and relished greatly. Today we take many things for granted, like sun in the sky, food on the table, and even the ability to disagree with one another. I am not going to stand here and tell you to be grateful for things you have never lived without. There is no point in doing so, because there is no way you can comprehend it. Instead, I will ask you once again, to revisit why you are here at this academy. For many of you, you desire to protect others. For some, it is simply the desire for fame or fortune,"

The students, especially the new first years looked amongst themselves, uncomfortable with this kind of honesty. It was something they would have to deal with later in life, but not something they could truly understand without the experience.

Experience that everyone in the senior years had. Those that survived Beacon's first downfall knew exactly what she was talking about. Each had had to look carefully at themselves and their motivations before they had returned, and each was stronger for it. But they still didn't know where she was going with this. Or rather, chose not to.

"Whatever your motivation, you chose to come here. Amongst all your differences, you share this commonality. So ask yourself: is this enough? Is this choice enough to make you endure through your studies together? Is it enough to know that you lived peacefully alongside someone who, while they may disagree with everything else you believe in, shares your desire, your drive to become a better person?

"And what of the others? The three schools in each of the Kingdoms and the myriad of others subordinate to them. Despite the vast distance and culture between them, is it not enough to share that ideal in common? And at what point do we cease to call these people or brothers, our sisters, our friends?"

At this point, there were furtive looks amongst the crowd, but still no words. There were still those with more than their share of xenophobia, including latent and overt racists. Beacon had never, and would never discriminate on that basis, as it would never deny the right of anyone else to enter in to its sanctum of learning. These people now looked amongst themselves, wondering to what extent they would be expected to tolerate one another.

"And who are our enemies? Simple, they are those that desire to take away what we have made for ourselves. Our security, our liberty, and our basic rights. In short: the ones that desire to make days of peace like this scarce, and who do not share in our understanding.

"There are, no doubt, some of you who are now wondering if I am asking you to all love one another. The answer is no. As much as it is something I would like to see within my lifetime, this is an impossible goal. What I am asking you is this: can you put aside your animosity, your distrust, your pride, and even your fear of other people for the greater good? Can you endeavor to surpass your parents, and forge a world that is truly at peace, one you can say with pride you were a part of?"

There were murmurs now. Fearful whispers and contemptuous sounds which covered up unspoken fears. Everyone knew, but was dancing around the inevitable outcome. Glynda allowed this talk to go on for a moment. It was the only chance they would get before dropping the bombshell that would make rational talk disappear. She took stock of the ones who looked uncomfortable with the ideas she was throwing around, but also at the heartening number who looked to her with unwavering faith. They had no need to discuss it.

"I'm afraid that if you don't yet have an answer to these questions yet, you will need to make a decision now. You see, your parent's work isn't done. We still don't have a perfect world. We barely have a world at peace, and that itself is an illusion. The fighting isn't over, it's just been dormant. We are at war, and now we are finally fighting back."


	10. Jaune the Conquerer Pt1

**Okay, so first off, love the response I got to the last little snack-chapter. Love it or hate it, glad it got some reaction out of you corpses.**

 **That being said, to those who enjoyed it, I have to apologize but I don't think it'll make it into the canon of this story. That being said, it may remain as an Omake for a while, until I ponder some more on making a whole new story based around this idea. So rest assured, you shall not lack for mind-bending craziness.**

 **So, it'll be there for a while longer before I remove it. I won't get rid of it, just tag it on to the end of this guy, so don't worry.**

 **Alright, onto the chapter at hand. Just some disclaimers that are far more pertinent than reiterating that I DON"T OWN JACK SHIT!**

 **This chapter was inspired by actual events, namely the history of South Africa and its former policy of Apartheid. To summarize, so that you can understand what's going on, for a time South Africa made 'Homelands' for some of its native ethnicities. These 'countries' (never recognized by the UN) were within the borders of SA, and were only marginally independent. For the most part, entirely dependent on the SA government for economic support, thereby being constantly in debt and some would argue worse off than being slaves.**

 **I am NOT writing this as a criticism of South Africa. I am not trying to be political. I am just trying to give some background as objectively as I possibly can to a topic that deserves a hell of a lot more attention than I can give it here, and to hopefully make this work of FICTION more understandable.**

 **Anyway, I am always open to talk about it. But most of you aren't here to listen to me prattle on (well, not in that way). So I'll shut up now.**

 **And here I go again…**

* * *

"Okay Jaune, you can do this."

JNPR's leader drew a deep breath as he squared himself in front of the foreign headmaster's door. He had come too far to chicken out now, confronted with an inanimate obstacle.

It had been a long journey from Beacon to Mistral. Yet the trip from the front gate, down the empty hallways and up to the heavy oaken portal felt far longer. So much responsibility rested on his shoulders, a burden which just seemed to get heavier the closer it got until it came time to flex those powers loaned to him from the headmistress of Beacon.

His team had been trusted with the "Eastern Front" of the war-that-wasn't-quite-yet. The one they had only implicitly signed on for, but swore oaths to themselves to fight for. Thus, all of Mistral, and Haven academy in particular, were their responsibility.

It was a monumental task, and one that would not wait until they were ready.

He wasn't ready. No amount of pep-talk would make him. He raised his closed fist in front of his face, hand poised in front of his greatest challenge to date. He'd take facing Cardin over this immutable door any day.

"Right, here we go-"

"Hurry up Jaune!"

"GAAA!"

He wasn't sure if the shrill scream came from his surprise shout by the impatient ginger, or if it was a result of his closed fist slamming into the unforgiving portal.

The hardwood surprisingly yielded, emitting a groaning crack as the bolt buckled. He was in no position to notice, though. He was too busy nursing his red and swollen knuckles, not daring yet to check them for splinters.

"Nora! We're meeting the headmaster, try to show a little patience." Ren's late cowing of his excitable friend did little to sooth the throbbing pain of his fingers. And it did even less to commend them to the owner of the door.

"Way to make a good _first impression_ , Jaune."

There was a pregnant pause as the other three digested Nora's terrible pun, solemnly vowing to limit her future exposures to Yang. Amidst their collective groans, there came an echo to Jaune's manly cry of surprise, emanating from behind the door.

Cautiously, and with some amount of appreciation for the damage done inadvertently to the poor door, the former huntress from Mistral poked her head into the stuffy office.

"Mr. Lionheart?" Pyrrha called out to the seemingly vacant room whose only light came from the massive bay windows opposite the entrance.

The only apparent occupants of the room were the countless books which spilled form their shelves, cascading down to stuffed velvet furniture and spilling onto the floor. That archetypal smell of musty paper and dust hung around like a summer's day heat after sunset. But beyond that, the room seemed as empty as the rest of the grounds had been. A strange and worrying thing to notice in a school that was supposed to be in the beginning of its fall semester.

"Huh, I guess he's not in right now."

"Ooh! Maybe we arrived just in time for the hide-and-seek game this time! I am so gonna win this thing."

"Nora, stay!"

Surprisingly this command was issued not from her inseparable friend and partner, but from her leader who had recovered surprisingly quickly from his injury. And even more shockingly, the order was followed dutifully and without any hesitation. Nora was frozen, transfixed by the apprehensive and calculating look and Jaune's face as he surveyed the unoccupied office.

He stepped past his other teammates, holding a hand to Pyrrha who tried to follow him through the door. If there was truly a danger, this would be a stupid move to send the team leader in first. But the feelings of trepidation he felt came from his fear of responsibility, and not a sense of danger.

He had many months to sort out the difference between those two. After being the victim of several very nasty pranks disguised as stealth training by their recuperating fox Faunus, he had come to trust his gut feelings a little bit more. And something was telling him, despite the oddity, this was not a particularly dangers situation.

Not yet.

"Hello? Mr. Lionheart? We're the team from Beacon Ms. Goodwitch sent. Did you get our message that we had arrived?"

There was no answer for a while, during which his team began to doubt. But then a familiar little tweet echoed from the far side, muffled by the heavy desk that was front and center across from Jaune.

It took them all a second to realize it was the default sound made by their scrolls when a message arrived. Following the electronic chirp flowed a stream of curses, also muted by the sturdy furniture. Certain words and phrases came through though, and the gist was a general dislike for the poor cellular reception in the school.

Then there was a bang, and the desk shifted outwards and up. This was followed by more cursing and a shaggy but kindly face emerging from behind the obvious yet ample hiding place.

Rubbing his head in a mixture of sheepishness and pain (something Jaune could relate to), the swarthy man they presumed to be Leonardo Lionheart stood up and held out the brilliant face of his blinking scroll towards them.

"I suppose I just received it."

"He, he, uh… bad phone service?"

"Among other things," The man sighed and gestured for the rest of them to enter and make themselves comfortable in the quaintly rustic room and furniture while he took a seat in the overstuffed plush chair stationed behind his desk.

Pyrrha was quick to reacquaint herself with the man who had tried valiantly to get her to attend his academy, and was equally quick to apologize for his now ruined door. Despite having had in no way any hand in its destruction.

The man waved her off with a careless but weary smile, indicating that there were other, more pressing matters that deserved their attention.

"Yeah, about that. What happened to all the students and teachers?" Jaune scratched the back of his head, slightly embarrassed at what might be a tactless question. It was a habit he had picked up from a certain someone. "I mean, shouldn't the semester have started already?"

"Perhaps it should have, but I felt that the situation was too dangerous to allow students back, and I sent the rest of the staff back to their homes so they could take care of their families."

"What? How could you do that?" Pyrrha spoke out of turn, surprising her teammates and even the headmaster. "Haven is supposed to be a symbol of hope for the Kingdom, and for the world. By running scared, you're just giving in to the fear and anger, making them more powerful-"

The passionate diatribe was quietly ended as Jaune placed a stalwart hand on his partner's shoulder, cutting her off and yet promising resolution with a firm gaze and gentle squeeze. She bit her tongue to keep her surprisingly rampant emotions in check as Jaune turned back to the mildly upset Lionheart.

"I can understand why you made that decision, sir." The young huntsman smiled nostalgically, "But believe me, hiding from problems doesn't make them go away. Running doesn't work too well either." He chuckled, recalling his own attempts which ended poorly.

"I'm afraid you don't understand," The headmaster stated glumly, though the four members of Juniper still felt like they were being spoken down to. "Everyone here saw the fall of Beacon. We all felt the fear and anger, the uncertainty reached out over the seas to us when the CCT came down. The combined negative sentiment from our population just watching it unfold attracted massive hordes of Grimm. We lost many good huntsman and huntresses…"

"-With all due respect, **sir** ," The rest of his team flinched, seeing for the first time this Jaune Arc. " **We** lost people too." If it were anyone else, they might have said he was furious. But the young man kept his darker emotions restrained, aware of all the ill-effects unleashing it would have.

"And yet, here we are." That all but murderous air disappeared as he gazed back to his team, waiting apprehensively as the legendary huntsman behind the desk. He shot them a cocky smile, one based more in practice than actually confidence, before he turned back to the irresolute headmaster.

"Anyways, that's actually one of the things Ms. Goodwitch wanted us to talk about. I really hope that we aren't taking up any important meetings you had planned." He saw the man raise a finger as if to produce just such a requirement, but trampled forward regardless. "But you're just going to have to tell them you'll be a little bit late. I think we have a lot to talk about."

Jaune would have admitted that he was just riding on the ephemeral power high. It was what drove him to knock on the door in the first place (that and Nora's timely intervention). But once he got over confronting such a powerful figure, realizing that the man was just as spineless as he was, he rode that lent confidence for all it was worth.

He didn't have to be braver than the man he opposed. He just had to be brave a minute longer.

* * *

"Ha! Seems Jaune finally got some balls!"

"Oh? Anything interesting I should know about?"

Sasuke looked up from his artistic work to see the toothy smile plastered on his partner's face. But it was covered by the multiple layer of bandages, the same which plastered every inch of exposed flesh except the protuberant ears which were shrouded by a dingy, conical sugegasa.

"Nah, you kinda had to be there."

Sasuke scoffed and went back to his carving, his own smirk covered by identical wrappings which folded into sackcloth robes, whilst Naruto absently plucked a few strings on a turtle shell shamisen balanced in his lap. Though he couldn't see it, he was sure Naruto's eyes were closed in deep concentration which didn't center around the instrument in his lap. That was why he was here, to keep an eye open where his partner could not.

They had discovered that by transforming just his ears into their fluid state, he could interpret sounds which traveled through the air easier, and with greater accuracy. And the leaden glass windows on the headmaster's office resonated deeply so that with a little practice, the fox Faunus could pick up everything being said up there. He might as well have been in the room with them.

But the question for anyone stumbling onto to this voyeuristic scene was why the two huntsmen in training were here in Mistral at all, and why they were practically spying on their comrades.

Put simply, JNPR were the bait.

At least, that's the way it was in Sasuke's eyes. No matter how many euphemisms Glynda, and later Naruto tried to attribute to it, that was the truth in his eyes.

Intelligence and intuition told them that the next likely target would be Haven academy. Things had quieted down in Vale after their run-in with Emerald, and they didn't think it was a coincidence. Nevertheless, it allowed them to try and get their own forces consolidated against Salem's still unknown machinations.

That put the six of them in Mistral and team RWBY in Atlas, with others both at home and abroad. While Naruto wasn't exactly comfortable with being so far away from his 'better half', he agreed it was necessary in the context of their respective missions.

JNPR's cover was legitimate. They were there to reestablish connections with Haven Academy's headmaster who had gone silent after the collapse of Beacon. This was unacceptable to both Glynda and Qrow who needed the man to be vigilant over his share of the relics.

And it wasn't like they expected Jaune to fail. Quite the contrary, as everyone privy to the mission had the utmost faith in him. But the fact remained that if Salem's attack was immanent, she would target the Beacon students first and foremost. All of them had survived her overture. She wouldn't want those kinds of loose ends trailing about. She would want to silence them.

So Naruto and Sasuke were to provide surreptitious support, and maybe run their own little side investigations if they had time. It was the kind of asymmetric warfare being a ninja was all about.

It was those shinobi skills which allowed them to hide in plain sight on the academy's front doorstep. The two dressed as begging lepers, not an unheard-of thing around those parts. The Kingdom of Mistral had a thriving and open trade, unfortunately this did nothing to stop the endemic spread of disease and destitution.

For once, Sasuke was almost glad Naruto couldn't remember most of his abilities. He would have remembered the Henge, and he would have been surprised that they weren't using it. The truth was Sasuke couldn't right now, at least not without accruing considerable pain. His condition had progressed to the point where he needed to use all chakra sparingly.

In a way, he really did feel like a leper. The world slowly eating away at him, body and soul.

He nodded in acknowledgement as a passerby picked up one of his carved figurines and laid down a silver coin in recompense. He held up his end of the ruse by carving wooden dolls in exchange for whatever meager largess passersby gave him. Begging alone would have them picked up by the authorities. Mistral was tolerant of much, but not towards those they viewed as troublemakers.

He had been whittling away unconsciously for hours now, and had surprised himself by making fairly decent works. Irony had him carving the forms of the nine Bijuu. 'Shukaku' had just been purchased, so he focused on molding the block of wood in his hands into a replacement.

He glanced up through the notch in the bandages to see the unveiled glare the same 'customer' was sending Naruto, whose shamisen sat purposelessly in his lap.

"He's just resting." Sasuke excused his listless friend, who went on fiddling with the strings and listening through the wall.

The patron didn't look convinced, but thankfully didn't raise a ruckus either. The man pressed the wooden figurine into his juvenile son's hands and hurried him away. Sasuke sighed in relief and went back to mindlessly carving and observing the foot traffic.

"You say something, Sasuke?" The young man just shook his head, either in exasperation or mirth, Naruto couldn't tell.

"No."

Naruto shrugged and went back to concentrating his semblance on his ears and interpreting the minute vibrations.

Sasuke wondered if Naruto could even play the instrument he had chosen for cover, or if he had merely picked it at random. If someone noticed his inactivity after a while, they might have a hard time keeping their cover. If someone asked him to play something, they were screwed.

"Hey kid, know any good drinking songs?"

Sasuke cursed and all but froze, hand shifting the kunai he had been carving with into a position where it could be thrown, and preparing to get both himself and Naruto out of there if it should come to it.

But it was even worse than he could have imagined.

"C'mon, I know you're not deaf." The heckler prodded the teen's leg with his sharp leather shoes, finally stirring the him from his focus. "Ooh, or how 'bout a love song. Play a good one, a real tear-jerker."

"Oi! Who do you think you are, kicking a- What the hell are you doing here!?"

"Finally…" Qrow smirked before bending down and snatching one of Sasuke's figurines before he could stop him. "Hey, these are pretty good!" He praised, turning it over in his hands and rubbing the rough-hewn edges. He had, on purpose or otherwise, picked up the nine-tailed Fox doll. "Yeah, looks just like it…"

"What the hell are you doing here you fool?" Sasuke hissed at the man who ignored him and continued considering the chibi-fox. "You'll blow our cover!"

"Alright, alright, don't get your bandages in a knot…" He tossed the figurine back to Sasuke who snatched it out of the air, never taking his eyes off of the casual huntsman.

"….Are you drunk?" Naruto questioned with an eyebrow raised which shifted every layer of bandage on his face.

"Uh, yeah, duh." He said as he produced a flask and sloshed it around to illustrate the amount of empty space inside. "Is that really the first question you're going to ask me?"

"No," Sasuke growled. "We both very clearly asked: what the hell are you doing here?"

"Oh, that." Qrow shrugged, waving a dismissal like he was swatting a fly. "I just figured you guys might like something more exciting to occupy your time."

Though the young man's face was covered, Qrow could clearly interpret the blank stare he was getting. He would just have to bait them a little more.

"Well, if that's the way you feel, maybe I'll just go find someone else to come along on my merry little venture."

"Who? Like Winter?" Qrow shuddered and made a hex with his fingers at the mention of the name.

"Well then, it looks like you need us, since you don't have anyone else you can turn to."

"Hey!" He shouted indignantly, bringing the public's attention, much to Sasuke's ire. "I'll have you know I am fully capable of doing this myself, I just thought I would give you brats and opportunity to tag along. **But** , seeing as how you are just so damned ungrateful-"

"Does Glynda know what you're doing?" Qrow shrugged once again, but this time averted his eyes.

"Eh, I kind of forgot to mention something to her. But if I had, I am sure she would tell you of the necessity of this operation." He spoke with surprising seriousness.

"Which is…?" Naruto drawled, fiddling again with the instrument in his hands, but anticipating smashing it over the man's head.

Qrow smiled conspiratorially and leaned in over the two so he wouldn't alert prying ears, but also so he could hoard their attention.

"How'd you like to help me hunt down a Maiden?"

* * *

"Oh, what a beautiful day!"

"Weiss, it's night. Also, how can you call this beautiful?!"

The other two members of team RWBY stared back and forth at their captain and her partner like they were watching badminton. For once, the perpetually reserved young woman was in a state of elation, and the usually upbeat girl was the lead weight bringing them down.

Although, to be fair, both Yang and Blake found the weather a tad cold as well. It was impossible to keep that sniffle from running down the nose and freezing almost instantaneously into greenish icicles. Objectively, that made it was cold.

But none of that seemed to bother the Schnee heiress. Upon returning to her homeland and being confronted with the bleak frozen tundra that was Atlas in the winter, she immediately ran out into the howling wind to embrace the weather in its entirety.

"Oh come on, Ruby. Don't be such a spoil-sport. The snow is wonderful. Go make a snow-angle or snowman already and get it out of your system."

Ruby took one look at the pristine white blanket which appeared to be rising by the minute, and then at her hands which would not stop shaking. No matter how appealing that sounded to her, she imagined that after about thirty seconds into the attempt her fingers would freeze and break off.

"No thanks. I think I'll pass."

"What's with you?" Weiss huffed, not comprehending what the average visitor to Atlas might feel like during one of their seasonal storms.

"It's too cold!"

"Cold? This isn't cold?"

"Wait, if this isn't cold, what in the world do you think is cold?"

"Well, at nighttime the temperature does start to drop, and things can get a little chilly-"

"What?! It's going to get even colder!?"

The other two silently watched them bicker from the moment they set foot off the aircraft, unsure of what to do, since they too were looking at the weather outside the protective metal hangar with growing amount of trepidation.

"Oh yes, it is lovely weather!" Blake and Yang shared a groan as they turned to the perpetually upbeat android who was to be their guide and escort during the mission.

"Et too, Penny?" Yang gave the android a half-smile as she buried herself further into the sheepskin jacket she brought along. "I would have thought Snow-Angel was the only one who could love such cold temperature. She's always turning down the damn thermostat…" She whispered the last part under her breath and even though Penny no doubt heard it, she ignored it in favor of the more jubilant answer.

"Of course! This type of weather is perfect for me, all of my processors are running at maximum efficiency and I can scale back my cooling system to conserve 1.8% more energy per hour of operation!"

"But don't you, I don't know, feel cold?" Blake asked, getting chills just from looking at the unchanged dress of the android.

"No. Should I be?"

"I don't know?" Yang said, getting frustrated at having to wait around so long in the unheated chamber. At least it was out of the wind. "I mean, you do feel things, pain and such right? Doesn't that mean that you'll get cold at some point?"

Penny cocked her head at the two of them with a disturbingly blank expression on her face that only briefly morphed into one of intense concentration. Which, if anything, was perhaps more unsettling than the blank one. She snapped out of it so suddenly that it caused the two women to take a step back, as they had the first time they had met.

"Yes!" She looked especially proud of herself for reaching that conclusion.

"Yes?"

"Yes. I calculate that there is a temperature at which I would begin to feel uncomfortable. At that threshold level I would begin to experience thickening of the lubricants in my joints, including dangerous expansion which could damage my fittings. I estimate that at this range I would begin to experience discomfort."

"So you're alright now? Any idea how cold that would have to be?" Blake asked cautiously, wondering if they had to worry about carrying the gynoid in the near future.

"Forty below?! Forty Below what?! What temperature has negative numbers?!" A cry from across the large chamber caught all of their attention as it seamlessly bled into their own conversation.

"It's minus-forty, it doesn't matter what scale you're using!" The equally frustrated cry from Weiss resonated against that of Ruby's, her blissful state cleanly forgotten.

"W-What?! How is that even a thing?!"

The two had noticed that Ruby and Weiss had been arguing a lot more lately, but they were unsure of what to make of it. Blake was worried about their team dynamic, but Yang assured her that was just typical behavior for close friends, even siblings. She cited herself and Ruby as an example, though that didn't give the dark-haired woman any more confidence.

"Friend Ruby does bring up a good point, though." Penny had even less of an idea of how to interpret their argument. So instead, focused on the things she could understand. "We should get to our destination before the storm gets any worse. If we wait any longer, whiteout conditions will make travel nearly impossible."

Everyone silently gathered around Penny at this declaration, Weiss and Ruby included as they drifted away from the cracked hangar doors.

"Well then, what are we waiting for?" Yang asked impatiently.

"I'm not walking in that." Blake said disparagingly, jabbing a finger at the snow falling sideways across the open doors.

"So, what do you suggest we do-"

"Sorry I'm late."

The four huntresses turned around to greet the cordial but gruff voice which emerged from under the shade of the aircraft they had arrived in. Their tall frame was handsomely bundled against the obviously inclement weather outside, but even the four of them knew who it was. Though it had been awhile for most of them.

The android had already known of his presence for a while, and gave an amicable, but noticeably reserved wave.

"Hello General."

"Hello again, Penny." He nodded, shifting the gray patterned scarf off his nose and mouth and removing his darkly tinted sunglasses. "Team RWBY." He nodded again deferentially to the gob smacked students.

The Beacon huntresses all faltered at the unannounced celebrity appearance. Weiss especially, for she had seen very little of the man after he walked out of a benefit gala for Beacon. He now looked considerably more worn-down than he had then. Or maybe it was just the surprise. None of them imagined meeting the man again in a place such as this.

"Well then," he continued, undeterred at the perplexed looks he was getting. "Shall we go?" He stepped aside, motioning towards a stately vehicle that at first looked more appropriate for the parade ground than the frozen and half-buried streets that awaited them.

"Uh, yeah, sure." The leader of the team wormed her way to the front of the group, taking the lead towards the six-wheeled staff-car on steroids, nodding convincingly to the rest of her team.

"I apologize once again for being late," The General addressed them once they were all cozily situated in the brutishly elegant machine, which upon closer inspection was far more heavy duty than its immaculate white paint and supple curves suggested.

He sat facing backwards to the direction of travel, and opposite the five of them who were comfortably seated on the U-shaped leather bench seat. And despite the obviously massive engine, they didn't have to raise their voices to make themselves heard across the cabin. The ample insulation all but cut them off from the world outside.

"Yeah, no problem." Weiss coughed, and Ruby quickly reworded her response. "I mean, it isn't an issue, General, sir."

"How come you're here to pick us up? Seems like kind of a small job for a bigshot like you." Yang stated bluntly, patently ignoring Weiss who was glaring daggers from across the coach. Although, everyone was quietly thinking the same thing.

Ironwood remained quiet for a brief pause in which they thought he was considering the answer as he appraised each of them in turn. However, he and Penny shared a knowing look which lasted all of a second, and made Ruby feel decidedly uncomfortable.

"I am not sure that you girls quite understand the importance of your mission here. Eh-well, actually," He nodded in Weiss's direction ", you might have an idea, Ms. Schnee."

"Well, I'll admit that I'm a little… ignorant on why we are here." Ruby stated with both humility and a little shame. "I mean, I understand that Vale and Atlas haven't been on the best terms recently. So I guess we're here to help fix that?"

Seeing her partner and captain giving an admirable attempt at political savvy, Weiss decided to take pity on her and offer her own insight.

"That's part of it." She sighed, glancing out the porthole windows which were but a white screen as they plowed through the snowbanks already as tall as most men.

"We're heading into the largest Township outside of Mantel to look for signs of dissidence which might undermine the government." She glanced at Ironwood who showed no expression, but the ambient weariness etched in the lines on his face.

"The government of Atlas needs everyone on our side right now so that Salem and her forces can't get a foothold. That includes the White Fang who might have gained increasing influence within the semi-autonomous structure of the townships. "

"That's also why they chose us." Weiss cut in "Because they need me, as a Schnee, I am a powerful symbol of their _commitment_." She glanced at Blake who was at her left and had already made the connection but was mulling things silently. "And it helps that we have Blake so that the people might actually listen."

And so that they wouldn't outright murder her. She left that part out, but most of the vehicle's passengers understood it.

"Okay, but that still doesn't really explain things." Yang stated petulantly, crossing her legs and arms with a huff. She was getting tired at all these political machinations. "I get Ice-Princess being a celebrity of sorts up here, but what does Blake have to do with it? What do we have to do with it?"

Still the General didn't give anything away, although he did manage to sneak a glance at the leader of the team who was too busy connecting dots to notice his furtive look. Weiss, and Blake both had their uses explained in the context of the mission.

Penny and he were there because Ruby was there, because Qrow had warned them ahead of time and suggested his niece get as far off the grid as possible for the time being. They were there to keep her safe, while on an admittedly dangerous mission. It was the lesser of two evils, and a perfect context for hiding her away.

Unfortunately for Yang, she was just along for the ride. But as a member of team RWBY, she would find herself as crucial as everyone else if things played out how he feared.

"The Townships have a… less than flattering name outside of Atlas." He started out, seeming to go off on another tangent to the blonde's ire.

Before she could voice her complaints, however, Blake interjected, unable to hold in her scathing opinion any longer.

"They're Faunus Ghettos. They're sending us into a cage to pacify the _animals_."

The interior of the car was dead silent as they almost unnoticeably glided to a halt. The snowfall had died down to a gentle patter outside, letting the harsh yellow security lights shine in through the perfectly round windows. The curious faces pressed themselves to the cold glass, looking out into the recently plowed streets and at the imposing sight across from them.

Weiss had no need to see it again. Neither did the General.

Heavy chain-link fence which was half-covered in recent snowfall separated them from what looked like acres of empty space. Shallow sloped roofs like dunes were the only thing breaking this illusion, accompanied by the dim yellow glow of incandescent light which looked warm, but none too inviting.

It was like a border with another nation, a city-state within the impenetrable evergreen forest which skirted the capital. Heavily armed, human and robot, guards stood unflinching next to the razor-wire topped gate and patrolled its length. The only way in or out of the compound which extended as far as the eye could see.

Blake had been right. It was a cage. A country with a choke-collar wrapped around its neck, restricting the breath of freedom to nothing more than a strained gasp.

And they were headed into it.

* * *

"That went…well."

Jaune's face was slacked with disbelief looking at his partner and teammate who was doing her best to console her leader. It was clear he was unconvinced.

"It wasn't that bad…"

He sighed and shook his head, drowning himself in another sip of the heavily spiced tea on the counter in front of him. He appreciated her efforts, but that wasn't what he desired right now. He didn't need consolation, he needed a renewed plan of attack for the next day. They couldn't give up that easily.

"It's not that it went poorly," Jaune said, staring, brows furrowed at the muddy brown liquid at the bottom of his glass. "I expected that he wouldn't listen to us, a bunch of kids. At least, not at first…"

"Well, we just have to convince him then." Pyrrha stated resolutely, clapping a hand on the seemingly dejected boy's armored back. "We just have to show him that there are people capable and willing to fight against Salem. And that he should bring back the students and teachers, show her that he isn't afraid."

Jaune shook his head in the negative.

"We already went over all those points with him. Even if we had the backing of the Atlas military behind us, I still don't think he would change his mind." The lanky boy's frown deepened as he looked up from the wooden bar and out to the busy street, happy and oblivious people still going about their business, even as the early winter sun was beginning to set.

"There's something else we're missing. Something he's not telling us." The man was afraid. Jaune was intimately familiar with that emotion, above all others. But he was lucky in that he had a lot of experience dealing with it, working through it, around it.

"Ooh! I know! Let's break his legs!"

Ren sighed at his partner's caffeine-fueled outburst. All the work they had done had gone out the window as soon as she had gotten little bit of sugar and chemical energy in her. She had finished her drink before any of the others, almost as soon as they had sidled up to one of the innocuous carts that populated the market streets.

"No, Nora. He's a headmaster, we can't do that." Hoping that even in her hyperactive state, the girl would at least recognize the inadvisability of assaulting such an important, likely powerful, figure.

"Help me out here Jaune. Jaune?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah, sorry. Uh, what were you saying Ren?" He blinked, tearing his eyes off the bustling streets. He thought he saw a familiar face amongst the crowds, but it was probably just his wishful mind playing tricks on him.

The thought of tricks sparked something in his mind, though, and from there it was a conflagration of thoughts which ran unchecked through his head.

"Actually, wait, that could work…."

Ren paled as his captain's statement as he then began muttering to himself.

"You can't be serious-"

"Oh Hell-yeah! This will be so cool! Alright Jaune, you get us access to his home. Pyrrha, Ren, you hold him down and I'll-"

"No Nora! Jaune, Pyrrha, help!"

"Sorry Ren, I've got to do some thinking. I'll catch you guys back at the room."

Jaune blindly placed some coins in the tin cup attached to the cart's counter, the tinkling sound dwarfed by Nora as she attempted to wriggle her way out of Pyrrha and Ren's grip. He walked off with his head turned to the ground and hand on his chin, deep in thought and oblivious to the commotion erupting behind him from the rest of his team.

"Jaune!? Where are you going?! We need a little help- Stop struggling Nora-No! Sorry! We'll pay for that- Keep Magnhild away from her! Seriously Nora, you have to calm down!"

"You better not go causing mahem without me, Jaune! Ow! Hey-watch it!"

"Sorry!"

"Oh, that does it…it's on missy!"

Team JNPR was sure to succeed in whatever they set their minds too. But first, they had to conquer themselves.

* * *

"No, no, that won't work…"

Jaune muttered to himself as he plodded down the busy streets, unaware of the passersby who had to change their own routes to avoid running into him. He was so caught up in his own thoughts that he missed all the spiteful glares sent his way which were much too intense for his simply being rudely unobservant.

He had come up with at least a dozen schemes to use against Lionheart to get him to bring back the students and faculty. And every single one of them he had dismissed after only short consideration.

The fact was that he just had too little information, on both the man and on the situation. This was a foreign country, and they were just students. How did Glynda expect them to waltz in there are set things straight? He understood the argument and motivations. He agreed that together the academies and their residents were a far stronger force than they were divided. But he had exhausted all these facts on the otherwise ineffectual headmaster only to be met with firm rebuttal every time.

It was clear he had other motivations than what he decried in the meeting. Some of them may have even been genuine, but if that were the case, why try to hide them?

And they were running out of time. At least, that was what Goodwitch had insinuated. If Salem wasn't going to make her move soon, they would. And so he didn't have time to be poking about looking for leverage which he may or may not find. He needed more political clout than what Glynda could bestow upon him. He needed the support of Lionheart's constituents. He needed the approval of the people.

Which he now noticed might be harder than he first surmised. He came to a halt in the middle of the street and looked up from his daze. On the surface everything was as bright and cheery as it had been since they first arrived. The sun shone brightly and highlighted the peacock colors of the marketplace, the walkways and shops lined with a pallet of gay banners and signs as lively as the pedestrians themselves who chatted on as if the recent Grimm attack were centuries ago.

But underlying that was a bleak current, a pall of hushed whispers like curare darts peppering him from every side. No one would come straight out with it, but it was clear after only a moment that those disparaging remarks where muttered in his direction.

Why? What had he done wrong? Was simply being a foreigner enough to set them off? Mistral wasn't known for being xenophobic, but perhaps that had been the change the Grimm attack had brought.

But then he understood.

"Hey! You!"

He flinched at the sudden outburst. He spun around to see a dark-haired, dark-skinned young woman sitting at a shaded café table, flanked by three others who only now looked lazily in his direction. Instincts told him to bolt, especially seeing the broadsword which was leaning not too far off. But before he could act on his instincts to backtrack and find his own team, the young woman leaned far over the table to beckon him with a brightly colored finger nail.

Who was he to refuse such an invitation?

Still, he approached this opportunity with caution. There was only one coy smile at the table, while the rest seemed to be judging him with cocked eyebrows and no small amount of skepticism. Still, the hand she waved was insistent, and he was taught to never keep a woman waiting.

"Um, hello?"

"You," She leveled the finger at him, and the demonic faces meticulously painted on her pointed nails snarled out at him. "I know you,"

By now all his senses were screaming at him to flee, but he was paralyzed under that cutely scrunched up stare and the scrutinizing gazes from the rest of the group. If they wanted him dead, running would do little to stop them.

"I'm sorry, I don't think we have ever met…" His mind went through numerous occasions he might have had in which he earned this exotic goddess's ire, and came up blank.

"No, no, no," She shook her head and the cascade of brass earrings jingled like prayer bells. "Not in person. You were in the Vytal Festival, correct?"

His eyes brightened and almost as immediately had a black curtain cast over them. It was a slippery slope from famous, to infamous, and he had yet to determine which label he wore here. But, there was no sense in lying.

"Yes, I was there."

"Ha!" Her laugh was as sweet and biting as the spiced tea he had earlier. She spun away from him to point the accusing finger at the rest of the table. "Pay up!"

Jaune blinked as the others groaned, throwing an odd assortment of Lien cards and semi-precious metals on the round wood table. The dark woman who had called him over chuckled as she hoarded her winnings together, leaving aside a small pile with which to pay for their drinks. The blond sighed as he prepared to turn around, before those painted monsters nipped at his shirtsleeve, begging him to stay.

"Come, come. Sit down with us, let me buy you a drink." Once more he felt as if he was becoming mired in her sugary air, but still consented. A space was made and a chair brought in for him at the crowded circle. Before he could refuse, that unrelenting finger signaled a passing waiter for another round of whatever the empty cups on the table had held.

"I knew I recognized you. You were with Pyrrha Nikos." Ah, that would explain her remembering him. Though it was a wonder he was visible at all behind her blinding persona.

"I thought you all did a wonderful job. You seem to be a captain that truly knows his teammates strengths and weaknesses."

Jaune didn't know what to do with the compliment, other than turn red and clam up. Thankfully, he didn't have to say anything as one of the others spoke for the first time.

"Doesn't help if he's still the weakest link on the team."

The biting remark came from the one farthest from Jaune. A bored looking individual with only a dark peach-fuzz covering their pale head and coal black eyes set into hollow sockets in their skull. Eyes which seemed to be staring down at him, despite being slouched so far down in their dangerously reclined seat that they were barely visible over the table clutter.

The individual was given a withering look from the dark-skinned woman on his right that they easily shrugged off.

In the exchange, he began to notice a trend at the table. Apart from himself, the other four were all crowned with varying shades of black hair, though they differed in every other way. His advocate just let the rebuke slide off with one of her own and turned back to Jaune like nothing had even been said.

"Forgive me, I haven't even introduced myself. My name is Kali, and these other balls of sunshine and rainbows are my teammates:" The cheerily demonic fingernail pointed to each of them in turn.

"This is Charna." The one on his left gave him a polite nod with her highly angular cheekbones and equally cold stare, which was more analytical than animosity. He nodded back, and she returned to her cup which looked like a doll's set in her hands. Even sitting, she was clearly taller than him.

"That is Ferrer." The next clockwise encounter was a rather stout looking lad, square jaw throwing him a cocky but jovial smirk. He raised a calloused hand to be level with his hazel-colored eyes.

"And of course, that is Lonán." The one with the most negativity didn't give any indication they were being talked about. They just continued to stare at Jaune with half-lidded chunks of coal. They folded their arms over the moth-eaten white wife-beater which hung loose on their almost skeletal frame. Jaune still couldn't tell if it was a male or female, but didn't think he was in any place to ask.

"Um, hi. I'm Jaune Arc."

"Mm. Ci, we know." Ferrer nodded, leaning back in the wicker chair. "Didn't think it was really you at first. You changed a bit since then."

"Yeah… I know." The other three empathized with the weight of the statement, but the androgynous member appeared to perk up slightly.

"A lot has changed since then." Kali placed a hand on his forearm which found its way onto the table amidst the abandoned cups which had yet to be cleared. "For us as well."

Jaune nodded in appreciation, though more so that he could just move the conversation along.

"So… you four are hunters?"

"Training to be." The individual known as Lorán spoke, with a little less bite than before. Seemingly anxious to correct any false-assumptions.

"I do not know how we are going to do that now, though." Ferrer scratched the stubble on his chin and sent Jaune another lopsided smile. "If you've come to find a new place to study, I'm afraid you're out of luck."

"Actually, that's kind of why I'm here." Kali looked slightly alarmed at this announcement and turned in her seat to face him.

"Did you not hear? Haven has been closed, and they will not say when it will reopen."

"Yes, I know. I'm not trying to join. We've been sent from Beacon to try and fix this." This statement definitely raised some eyebrows. It even caused the standoffish Lorán to sit up in their seat and lean cautiously into the conversation.

"We? You mean you've been sent from Beacon with your team?"

"Then Beacon stands still."

"Your team-oh! Is Pyrrha Nikos here too?"

"What do they think sending one team is going to accomplish?"

Jaune recoiled from the barrage of questions, not used to suddenly being the center of so much attention from strangers. The last question was also one that he had been wondering about, and so had even less of a decent answer for it.

He tried to answer them as best he could and assuring that his team was up to the task. Most of them had confidence and respect in Pyrrha, for obvious reasons. But were still dubious the effect just one group of students could hope to have on, to them, a hopeless situation.

"That's actually where I'm at, right now." Jaune admitted with a sigh, playing with his mostly full cup of strongly spiced and bitter tea which had arrived long enough in their conversation to become cool and undrinkable. "I can't seem to convince the headmaster to take a stand and bring back the students and faculty." He shook his head and stared into the grainy liquid. "Why can't he understand that we're stronger if we stand together?"

"He does." Lorán spoke, again surprising Jaune. "Maybe he can't, or doesn't believe it, though." Before he was to question the genderless individual, he took stock of the dower and dejected looks which went around the table. Even Kali, who had yet to lose her mysterious smile, had a purse to her crimson lips and her dark brows knit in consternation.

"Any show of strength now, and it is likely that he'll lose the school." Lorán grimaced before fumbling around in the pockets of tight, black jeans, producing and then lighting up a long cigarette. Kali shot a half-hearted glare which was typically ignored. Lorán flicked the lighter closed with a harsh click.

"I'm sure you know by now that we had our fair share of hardship here in Mistral." The skinny individual blew a long trail of smoke. "Well, you'd think that after such an incident, that the public would be crying out for more warriors to fight off the encroaching Grimm. But sadly, logic and politics rarely go hand in hand. Instead of being seen as heroes for sacrificing their lives to fend of the attacks, the huntsman and huntresses who were called up are now blamed for the sudden onset."

Jaune had come to the conclusion a while ago, while he was still alone in the streets. The animosity he felt was because the sword on his belt, and not the color of his skin. But he hadn't wanted to believe it until now. He had all the evidence he needed to condemn humanity to the lowest rungs of beasts, but still clung on to the hope that there was some good left in their world.

"The phenomena started on your end." They flicked the accumulating ash Jaune's way. But it held little accusation, and was simply a fact. "The public here latched onto the panic and fear, blaming it on the huntsman and soldiers for fighting one another. Claiming the build-up of arms and the preparedness to fight stirred up the Grimm. Tch. Fools." They snuffed out the half-smoked paper tube into their cup, ignoring the cut crystal ashtray in the center of the table. "As if Grimm could understand a concept like provocation. The only provocation they understand is if you'd poke them with a spear. People are just always looking to blame their problems on someone else. We're today's scapegoats. Tomorrow, it'll probably be those same politicians, now that they don't have anyone to back them up."

"But what if something… bad were to happen now?" Jaune asked the group, voice hushed low and conspiratorially, as if the possibility weren't merely hypothetical. "What would the government of Mistral do? What would the people do?"

"Die." The response earned Lorán a lot of averted eyes, as no one wanted to either dispute nor confirm this blunt answer. They shrugged indifferently. "Most likely."

"And you're okay with that?" Jaune wisely set the cup down on the table before he broke it, and leaned over the table to confront the callous remark. "You're okay with just being shoved to the side like this? No, not even that. You're okay with being strung up to blame?"

"Of course not." Kali answered morosely for Lorán whose teeth gnashed so hard it could be heard from across the table. "But what can we do? We're just students, not even full hunters yet. Even Pyrrha Nikos is still in the same boat, and so none of us have any power."

"You're wrong." Jaune asserted, and the table found themselves surprisingly trusting of these words. "You can fight, can't you?"

"Against whom? Grimm? The school? The Kingdom? The World?"

"Yes."

No one had anything to say to this. They had not been prepared for this person now sitting at their table. They had seen the recordings of the Vytal festival and come to an entirely different conclusion as to Jaune's character. This wasn't someone who was just going to stand back and tell people what to do. This was someone who was willing to use the sword and shield on their belt to cut aside anything that stood in their way.

"Individually, we may be weak." No matter how much he might have improved, Jaune knew they all had a long way to go before they could compare themselves to real huntsman and huntresses. "But if we stand together, we can be many times stronger than we would be alone. And I'm not just talking about fighting. Students in every kingdom may represent only a small fraction of the population, but we all share something in common. A drive, motivation, goals, ideals. If we just speak together in once voice, we can be louder than all of the people who are only held together by fear."

"Okay. Prove it." Lorán was leaning forward now, almost face to face with Jaune so that he could see past the straight line of a mouth, the excited look that was in their eyes.

"Uh," He faltered at this suddenly intense look from the unmotivated individual.

"Prove to me you have what it takes to back up those words. Fight me, and if you impress me…

"I'll get you an army for your crusade."

* * *

"Where could he have gone?"

Even being able to see over the throngs of people gawking at her and asking her for her autograph, Pyrrha couldn't seem to spot the equally tall blond leader of their team. He had simply wandered off only to vanish among the crowds while Nora worked off her sugar/caffeine high. It was a good thing Glynda gave them an ample budget to work with, Eeven still, they would probably be paying off that repair bill for a while.

"Maybe he went back to the hotelroom?" Ren suggested in a strained voice as he lugged an unconscious Nora over his shoulder. That's where he wanted to be right now, so they could get some sleep and forget about this unproductive day.

"But he doesn't have a room key." Pyrrha noted, holding the object up to illustrate the point. Like a true leader, Jaune delegated the task to the most responsible one of the group, knowing he would misplace it if it was left to him.

"Well, he could still be-uhf!-waiting in the lobby or something…" Ren grunted, repositioning the abnormally heavy limp body in his grip.

"I suppose…" Wandering around aimlessly wasn't getting them anywhere, especially with the abysmal progress they had been making, forced to wade against the tide of Pyrrha's fans.

For a brief moment, she thought she saw a flag of yellow leave a café amidst a field of darker colors. But whatever she saw quickly folded back into the indistinguishable crowd and was gone.

"Alright," She relented, the afternoon boost from the tea break was already wearing off. "Let's head back."

Maybe he would be waiting for them when they returned. Maybe he would even have some good news for them. It would be a welcome change.

Still, it was disheartening not having their leader with them. It wasn't like they couldn't make decisions on their own, but the spirit of the team wasn't there. For the first time since coming back to Beacon, they realized just how much they depended on one another, and how empty they all felt when they were not whole.

But they trusted him to return to them. He had to.

* * *

Jaune gulped, trying hard not to let the fear he had internally confined break free. He put on a brave face, despite the trickle of sweat running down his forehead and the involuntary twitch in his right eye.

The one standing opposite to him saw past this effort, but chalked up another point to their evaluation of the lanky blond. It was easy to be brave when one had confidence. It was quite another to be brave in the face of the unknown. And Lorán was a hard character to judge.

Standing across the field from Jaune they were hardly an impressive figureThey were hardly an impressive figure, less so across the field in the quickly dimming light. In comparison, they might have had only an inch or so on NoraHe only had Nora as comparison, but it seemed a good fit. But by equal measure, they had every bit the woman's intimidation factor and then some. That baggy-eyed stare which betrayed nothing of their inner workings, coupled with the lime-green baseball bat balanced casually over their shoulder presented an intimidating image. More than that, it was the casual confidence with which they held themselves that truly frightened Jaune.

Lorán had nothing to prove. That task was up to Jaune.

"Are you two ready?" Kali asked from the side where she stood with the rest of her team.

Jaune glanced at his scroll before tucking it back into his pocket. Lorán didn't move a muscle. Jaune nodded seriously at Kali before drawing Crocea Mors and holding it at a downward angle in front of him.

"Care to make another bet?" Kali cocked her head at her two teammates, brass earrings jingling merrily.

Charna smirked, but declined to answer while Ferrer spat and kicked the dirt, muttering something about the devil's luck. Kali chuckled and turned back to the two combatants.

"Alright,"

Jaune unfolded his shield and hooked his arm into its brace, resting it behind him to balance the weight of his sword.

Lorán widened their stance and wrung the metal club in their grip so that Jaune could just read the words 'Shady Lady' hand written in cursive and what looked like lipstick on the side. He could see the excited twinkle behind that impassive mask.

"Fight!"

* * *

 **Heh. Okay, just some notes, going in order.**

 **I had to toss in the bit about temperature when given the opportunity. I have absolutely no idea what scale they use in Remnant, but I'm guessing that if Earth is approximately the same size, they'd end up with something like the metric system, so this joke wouldn't work. But just so you guys know, if you measure minus 40 degrees, it is the same in both Fahrenheit and Celsius.**

 ***yes I did mean "coach" and not "couch". That's what they used to call old cars because you bought the engine and frame, and went to a coachmaker to actually get the body done.**

 **OC's are an inevitable, so I hope you guys like them well enough. But don't expect them to play a huge role. All of their names are based off of different language's words for 'black'. Kali in Hindi, Ferrer in lots of Latin-based languages (same like 'Smith' Ferrer = Ferrier, iron-worker, someone who shoes horses) he's supposed to be Spanish (Sorry,** _ **Catalan**_ **, geeze), Charna in Slavic languages so Russian-ish, and finally Lorán which is supposedly Gaelic for blackbird (I know I used to have some of you Paddies reading my stories, so please correct me before I trample on your crazy language any more).**

 **These are all amalgamations of people I actually know, but with changes, so any likeness to actual persons living or dead is totally not accidental.**

 _ **Shady Lady**_ **however is 100% real. She's currently wandering around somewhere in So-Cal in the Post-Apocalyptic circuits. She now sports a hooked-billed machete wedged down the center, but keeps her beautiful tramp-stamp letting everyone know she's bad-a**. She's one mean bat-chete™.**

 **And as promised, here is the Omake from chapter title "Snack"**

* * *

Kakashi was never a man of faith. He had seen, survived, experienced too much which seemed to contradict it. He had often toyed with the notions before as a means out of his self-inflicted torment. But he could never quite see himself deserving of the salvation it offered. He doubted his father had stooped to its crutch, even in the moment he had accepted the inevitability of his own death.

But could he afford not to, now? Now that his team had once again been shattered, demolished, decimated, rent from his grips like a photograph in the wind, could he survive without some sort of hope?

Sasuke and Naruto were gone. He had failed his teacher, Jiraya, Itachi, the Third, and so many others that he couldn't even count. The destruction at the Valley of the End was so abject, told such a savage story that it didn't matter they never found the bodies. Maybe it was a good thing. He wanted to remember his students how they were, and not as mutilated corpses, and not as twisted experiments in Orochimaru's clutches.

It was a cold comfort, though. And the fact that he still had one student remaining was less consolation, and more slap in the face.

Sakura was devastated. He might have scorned her for her weakness, but he was in no position to talk. She was even considering dropping out of the ninja program entirely. Hell, he was. Life itself, in fact outwardly held little meaning to him, and he clung on out of habit, not purpose.

Could he follow the same path as his father? Or would the possibility be for him, the coward's way out?

If there was a divinity, even just the possibility, it could give him hope. He could yell at them, curse them, take out all his frustrations at the unfairness of it all by blaspheming to hell and back. And then, when he was done, he could renew his faith, hope that this injustice was part of their grand scheme, and that those two deaths might prevent thousands, millions more.

He could hang his faith on a divinity which governed the world beyond his control.

It would leave him blameless. But also, so, so empty. If there was meaning in their deaths, there wasn't any in his actions. His teachings, what little there were, would have been without purpose.

But if his efforts were his own, and not governed by fate, then it was their deaths that were meaningless, and his actions an exercise in futility. The world would go on without them, without him, if it were so inclined.

So passed the days by waiting out the hours, trying to find reason in life's little pleasures.

He carefully turned over another page in his book. The sun-bleached paper almost disintegrating under his touch.

 _Why do you give up hope so easily?_

Because it hadn't worked so well before. He was a shinobi, and they worked on facts. Hoping something turned out alright and not doing anything to prevent it got people killed.

 _But sometimes a leap of faith can save many more._

Maybe. But only for those special individuals with luck in spades and divine providence. He wasn't one of them.

 _What makes you think that you're not special? We are not always the ones to determine our importance._

Because he kept failing. Time and again he thought he had something special, and he blew it. He thought this next time was going to be the one, because it lay in the hands of his students and not him. Because the son of the Fourth Hokage had him convinced he was right. He was wrong.

He had stopped reading by now. He knew the words by heart, yet they sat in front of his face and the abstract characters morphed into the faces of everyone he lost.

 _They were important to you, as you were important to them. Is that not enough?_

But he failed them.

 _Only by giving up._

What else did he have to live for though?

 _Live for a better tomorrow. The next day. The next page. The knowledge that goodness will never die as long as we go on._

Was that so? It was so simple, so certain. Was that truly what he believed?

 _Yes. Believe in the ability of humans to persevere. To move on._

One foot in front of the other, moving towards what?

 _Life is hard, short and brutish. If it were not, it would cease to be special. Our time on this plane is limited so that we can find enjoyment in each of its moments. Those simple pleasures are enough to keep us going forward, so that one day we can look back at their totality and say that we led a good life._

"Hmm."

There was some static, some hum in thought as he mulled over the possibility in his head. He debated if it was fear that kept him from taking his own life, or something else. Was it this search for a purpose that drove all humans, uniting them through borders both real and imagined?

He flipped the page, eye reconnecting with the lines which seemed somehow sharper, less faded. The air was crisper even, the sun baking the orange tile roof he sat on and giving him a warm glow throughout. That single, obnoxious crow was nowhere to be found.

Things had changed. Not everything for the better. They were different, and that was a sign that he was still alive, still moving forward.

He was empty now. Duty would only get him so far. He needed something to fill that void, not let it lay down with the eternal nothingness. He sought purpose, but was still unsure where to find it.

And for now, he was okay with that.

…

…

…

…

… _You seem awfully calm for someone with a voice inside your head._

Why shouldn't he be? He knew that he had gone crazy a long time ago.

 _You're not crazy, I can assure you._

No, he was crazy. But he was sane enough to realize it. That's why they kept him on the roster. Same with half the other ninja in the village.

 _You're not wrong there._

Did Gai have voices like this in his head? Maybe that's what the whole 'Youth' thing was about. He hoped he didn't start wearing spandex.

 _Oh, dear Oum, I hope not._

Ah, well then. Nothing to worry about.

 _Seriously? You're just going to go back to reading?_

It was a good book.

Memories passed through Kakashi's head like a slideshow. But he was disconnected from them. The faces which normally invoked such pain were like strangers he was meeting for the first time.

He finished the page he was on.

 _I…don't suppose you have any idea where Vale, or any of the Kingdoms are, do you?_

He didn't. But he assumed that was already given. He didn't even know what they were.

 _I was afraid of that._

…

…

…

…

…

…

He turned the p-

 _Wait!_

He paused, finger and thumb almost tearing the corner of his precious story.

…

…

…

 _Okay, you can go on._

He finished turning the page. The next two, he took his time reading.

…

…

…

 _I don't suppose you have any coffee?_

Once again, he didn't even know what that was.

He ignored the muffled sobbing noise in the back of his mind.

… _It is a good book._

That he knew.

He snapped it shut, tucking it into his utility pouch on the back of his belt. He didn't stand up right away, merely looked out over the village getting ready for the oncoming nighttime. The sun was beginning to set earlier and earlier, and the street lamps just now started to flicker on, one by one.

Everywhere, people went about their daily lives like nothing had ever happened. Like nothing was ever going to happen. Around them, in the shadows and on the rooftops were those that made sure to keep it that way, heavy with guilt so that others could live oblivious. It wasn't fair, but it was life. And life always found a way to go on with no other divining force but their own.

 _Does there happen to be a sequel, perhaps?_

Kakashi felt himself smile beneath his mask. Small, but it was there, even if he was the only one to know about it.

"Not yet."


	11. JTC Pt2 (Truth is Always the Same)

**Hey there! Anyone still alive after Black Friday? No? Too bad, that doesn't exempt you from reading. Had this chapter done about two weeks ago, and I've been revising it ever since. So you don't get a choice.**

 **Oh, and I hope y'all had a pleasant Thanksgiving and whatnot, it you celebrate it. If you have never celebrated it, you're probably from outside the US and this whole holiday can seem kind of strange. It is. So forget about the details and just gorge yourselves on food. There. You're thanksgivinging.**

* * *

Weiss woke up early, got dressed in warm layers, and went downstairs into the silent kitchen. She looked around at the scant furnishing, trying not to crinkle her nose at the layer of dust coating everything. She looked at the cold ketal on the stove, the wicker basket next to it handed to her when they were dropped off. She left the things where they sat, and went outside into the frosty morning.

Out of that empty room, something followed her silently.

The industrious citizens of the Township were already up and about, sweeping the thick blanket of snow that had fallen last night. It was still night; the sun would not rise for another few hours yet that far north.

Yet she was not the only one awake that chilly morning. There seemed to be quite a few early risers apart from the busy street sweepers. Shabbily bundled figures shuffled down the snow-covered walkways that quickly turned to slush under their heavy footsteps. They trickled out of every doorway as if on a timer, and all headed the same direction down the street in one massive tide of humanity.

Except these weren't humans. All of them were Faunus. And they were all headed out of their captivity to go to their jobs in the mines, or if they were lucky, into the capital and its suburbs. Weiss was the only human out and about that morning, and never did she feel more out of place.

"Ow!"

Displaced yet again as someone bumped into her roughly. Rather than get mad, she just picked herself up and dusted off the dirty snow, moving out of the way of the unending flow. It was her fault for getting in the way. And even if she wanted to get upset at someone, the culprit had already disappeared back into the crowd of anonymity.

She watched this bizarre and dismal emigration for a few minutes, and by the time it was over the town was practically empty. It seemed like the morning after a long night of drinking, with the buildings purging themselves of the toxins they had consumed the night before. But then, in that unnatural stillness, life picked up and staggered on.

Security gates were shifted aside, locks turned, awnings folded out, and everywhere lights were lit. Blue and red neon buzzed to life, LED displays winked on, and warm yellow glows bathed shelves of honest wares and spilled out into the streets, banishing the darkness.

Weiss felt herself smile at the familiar display, emerging from where she had taken shelter and strolling quietly down the parade of shops. She passed by a bakery, catching the heavenly whiff and vowing to stop by later to pick up one of the fresh loaves just coming out of the oven. It would make a delightful breakfast for her and the others.

Many shops weren't open quite yet, and their proprietors were just busy preparing things for that later hour. She didn't mind. She just wanted to walk and get the lay of the land, in preparation for their long assignment ahead.

Weiss's aimless wanderings took her past a quaint newsstand, its small shelves bursting with both the latest and ancient articles. Jammed in between that month's _North Star_ and an unnamed cooking magazine with a bleached cover, there was an out-of-date newspaper. On the cover was a picture of Beacon as it burned.

Weiss stared at it for a long time, unaware of the gentle coughing which tried to catch her attention.

"A-hem!"

More than ward off the chill, the scarf wrapped around her face hid the blush of embarrassment.

"Can I help you, young lady?" The bearded face poked out at her from a tiny gap in between the newsprint. A small window just big enough for the shaggy smile to make itself known between _Wranglers_ and _Huntsman Weekly_.

"Oh, um, sorry." The young woman dug her hands further into her pockets and shrunk into her heavy coat. "I was just looking."

"No need to apologize, love. You're new here, right? Out to see the sights?"

"Something like that." The grizzly man chuckled, and a fur-patched hand snuck out to rub his cherry red nose.

"Well, I'm afraid you're not going to find much here to see, 'specially not so early in the morning. Myself just getting set up before the second rush. But if you'd like to wait, I'm sure Loise will open up shop in a bit. You do know how to skate, don't you?"

"Of course." As a proper girl from Atlas it was a necessity as well as a pleasure. But it would have to be postponed yet again. "Maybe later. I'm just waiting for my friends to get up. We got in late last night." More like even earlier this morning.

"Ah, you an early riser then, huh?" She was, but this time it was because she just couldn't sleep. Anticipation and trepidation niggling at her subconscious.

"Well, in that case, might I recommend Medvedev's café? Pardon me for being so forward, but you look like you could do with a good cup of something warm, Miss…"

"Oh, I'm sorry, my name is Weiss. And that does sound lovely."

"Weiss, huh?" His kindly eyes narrowed as he leaned out slightly trying to see past the scarf, and Weiss felt a chill that had little to do with the pre-dawn cold. "That's a rather unique name."

"Yes, well, I haven't met another one yet." She glanced nervously down the suddenly too empty streets. Even if there were crowds, there was little hope she could blend in. She was _supposed_ to stick out, after all.

"Who did you say you knew here, again?"

"No one except for my friends, I'm afraid."

"I see…"

She felt her heart pound in her chest, and almost wished she hadn't left Myrtenaster back at the flat, she felt almost naked without it. But a weapon here would only worsen her predicament. Just as soon as she considered bolting into the darkness of the mostly empty street, the chubby man's cheeks crinkled into another grin.

"Well then, Weiss, it's nice to meet you."

And just as quickly the smile was gone.

"But I'd recommend finding some new friends, and soon, Ms. Schnee. Until then, I'ma have to ask you to leave."

Weiss felt like she had been struck. She fumbled to find words of indignity but kept choking on air.

"No offense, missy. I d'n personally have nothing against you." He nodded at the same article that she had been staring at before. "I **do** read the news after all."

It was little consolation, a drop removed from the bucket of cold water poured over her.

"Sorry, but I can't have you coming 'round here, either. I need to make a living after all. Oh, and I take back what I said about the coffee. Best get it somewhere else."

But she didn't hear what else he said. She just nodded rigidly, bowing her head and making an about-face back from where she came. The second shift of early risers was out now, and she fought against a flow of both people and welling of tears which stung her eyes.

But she wouldn't cry.

She didn't notice the one person walking the same direction as her against the flow.

She didn't notice the people who bumped into her, nor the spiteful glances she was getting for just being a stranger. She only felt that palpable hate directed at her. In her one-track mission she just kept her nose down and focused on putting one foot in front of the other. So she couldn't focus on the cracks which shattered her image of normalcy.

In this transmuted world image everything was out to get her. The lights cast shadows of demons. The gates were razor sharp maws snapping at her. The slush on the sidewalk was bile trying to dissolve her from the feet up. She cried out as a firm hand reached out and grabbed her.

Everyone ignored her.

It dragged her into an alleyway, and in her overwrought fear she forgot how to defend herself. But she could still kick and scream her lungs out, tear at the them tooth and nail if it came down to it. She tried, but the body her fists blindly hit was an unyielding wall which gave nothing to all her emotionally ineffective strikes.

She had to try and do something. She was about to escalate the confrontation with her glyphs, but pushed away and opened her eyes to an unexpected sight.

"Penny!"

"Are you alright, Weiss?" There was a lack of the innocent smile on her face, replaced by stoic concern.

She shook her head.

"Yes, I'm fine. What are you doing here?"

"Ruby asked me to keep an eye on you." It took her away from her primary duty, but she had asked as a friend, and Penny couldn't refuse.

Weiss took a deep breath, letting out a hiccupping sigh of relief.

"And you are sure you are okay?" Penny questioned again, cocking her head. She had followed her and seen everything, already running scans on the woman to see that there was no injury. But these humans were strange, and could have damage that wasn't always obvious.

"Yes." No.

"Okay." She didn't believe it. "Shall we go back?" Penny held a hand out to Weiss who finally noticed the paper-wrapped bundle under the other arm. A bread loaf from the bakery she passed. "The others are probably up by now."

Weiss tried laughing only to choke out a wet sob which froze as it dribbled down her chin. She ground her teeth angrily and rubbed the snot away with the back of her hand. Suddenly the time she spent on makeup seemed stupid. Maybe if she rubbed hard enough, she could wipe off the stain of genetics on her face.

She drew a sharp breath and lay a hand on the android's shoulder for assurance. Whose, was anyone's guess.

"Thanks Penny. Yeah, let's go back home."

* * *

"Woah!"

Like a runner heading in to home base, Lorán slid in under Jaune's feet, swinging the bat behind them. It was only with some fancy footwork that came half from his sisters' lessons on ballroom dancing, and half from his training with his aunt, that he was able to move himself out of the way before the neon-green club smashed down on his head.

*BOOM! *

The ground where he was levered outwards in large sheets of rock which sent smaller pebbles whizzing at him. He threw his shield in front of him as the shards peppered the metal surface. The other fighter didn't limit themselves to a single attack, and used the opportunity to hammer the larger chunks of ground at Jaune like a pitching machine gone rabid.

Jaune had to stop passively blocking the rubble and start heaving against each meteoric blow. And while his body was busy dealing with the unexpectedly powerful opening move, Jaune's mind was busy on analyzing his opponent.

He was not unused to a physically stronger opponent. But knowing little to nothing about his adversary, he knew the strength could also be enhanced by dust in the weapon. He would need more data to draw a conclusion, and unfortunately that meant putting himself in danger once again.

Lorán obliged, charging head-on without reprieve, aiming to smash the bludgeoning weapon on Jaune's shield and test its durability. But even beneath that unrelenting onslaught, Jaune knew his opponent wasn't simply trying to overpower him. The same analytical thoughts ran underneath that shaven scalp.

Jaune let his shield redirect the blow off to the side, thrusting through the opening he created. Lorán's scrawny body shifted out of the way to let the blade add another hole to their shirt. They whipped a kick out at the blond's hand hard enough to send his sword flying.

The young man's eye's widened as the sneaker-clad foot shot at his already damaged hand. It had been clear the whole assault was a set-up to target the previous injury. He yanked his hand back at the last moment, fighting against his own muscles and momentum.

Miraculously, Jaune bore through the pain and held on as the toe-box struck the flat of his blade. Moving with the blow, he brought himself around for another swing which skittered off the metal bat.

There was no doubt that Lorá's wiry frame was all muscle, as they manhandled Jaune's sword aside and swung upwards into his jaw. The lanky blond barely leaned back to avoid the strike, not wasting a modicum of energy and not taking his eyes away from his opponent's. He saw the glint in their eyes as they came back down with a two-handed vertical swing.

There was a metallic clang and the giddy clapping of Kali on the sidelines as the two weapons met. Neither moved an inch.

"Hm, risky move." Lorán cocked a smirk at Jaune.

"Not really." He answered back with one of his own, a strange feeling for him. "The risky part was letting you go for my hand. That hurt." Lorán's grin got wider once the bait was revealed.

"But not as much as it could have, if you had a strength semblance." He emphasized his point by taking a step and pushing the smaller individual back a step. "Instead, you have a limited amount of dust in your bat, and have to consciously activate it before you hit."

"Maybe. But," Lorán pushed back again, making Jaune doubt his conclusion for a second. "If I have dust, you think I won't just blow you up here and now?"

"I don't." The smirk was getting infectious. "But it was a calculated risk that you wouldn't want to blow yourself up, too."

"Maybe," Jaune paled as he saw a maniacal grin similar to Naruto's which he had learned meant nothing but trouble. "Then again, maybe not."

The grin made Jaune doubt Lorán's sanity, and for a moment feared the reality of a suicide attack.

No explosion came, but the force of the bat above him grew exponentially, and his muscles strained to stave it off. But it didn't make any sense, he thought he had already determined that the semblance wasn't based on strength. So why was it becoming so hard?

"Like I'll give you a chance to figure it out."

Suddenly the pressure was off and Jaune stumbled forward, straight into the bat coming in a reverse arc.

"Oooh, that had to hurt."

He had to agree. He had been hit by Cardin's mace too many times to count, but this was something else. It was like being hit with a train.

Jaune groaned as he picked himself off the ground. He looked across the field to see three identical images swirling around in his vision, three Loráns leering over at him with chin resting on folded hands over the pommel of _Shady Lady_.

"That it? Pathetic. Come on, get up."

His ringing ears didn't hear the command, but he did so anyway. Rolling onto his knees, he braced himself on Crocea Mors, struggling to consolidate the multiple images and find his breath once again. He shook his head clear of the cobwebs and pushed himself upright, not straying from their cockeyed stare, looking down at him with a strange curiosity and expectation.

Patiently contemptuous.

Lorán spit off to the side, wiping the trail off with the back of their leather-gloved hand before settling into a two-gripped stance.

"Batter up…"

Jaune took a deep breath, not willing to rise to the bait. Instead, he dropped into his own ready stance, placing his shield on his belt and bracing his sword above his head with both hands, parallel to the ground, side towards Lorán.

"So that's the way it's going to be, huh?" The grin was hidden behind a bicep. "Fine, then."

Jaune didn't react to these whispered statements, nor did he flinch when they suddenly charged him with another impressive show of speed. In fact, he didn't even move, not even when Lorán got within striking distance and swung at him with a two-handed grip.

At the last possible second, he swept his right foot back, dragging Crocea Mors down along with him and parrying the bat out of the way with minimal effort. That brief moment of contact told him everything he needed to know.

So that was it.

He stepped in to their exposed guard, confident that they wouldn't be able to bring their weapon back up in time. He was right.

But Lorán didn't even try to come around for a second attack. Simply bending back at a near perpendicular angle to avoid the horizontal strike, which only succeeded in ruffling their rag-like shirt. As the slash tickled their sharply pointed nose, they dropped their bat and shot back up to step straight into Jaune's guard.

Before he could retreat Lorán blitzed him again, latching onto the sides of his armor as if trying to grapple. If that were the case, Jaune realized he would be in major trouble. He wasn't all that experienced in ground fighting, and the eagerness said that they were.

But it wasn't that. It was worse.

Jaune dropped to a knee as his armor suddenly became unbearably heavy. It was crushing him. He couldn't breathe. He strained to look up at his adversary staring down at him. At least, before a black and white-canvased foot kissed him in the face.

"So, did you finally get it, huh?" Were they talking about the semblance, or their previous conversation?

Lorán glanced back at the bat which had sunk into the ground like Styrofoam packing. They turned back to it casually and picked it up as if it were as light as a feather. It was, now. They walked back over to the prone Jaune in no particular hurry. He wasn't going anywhere soon.

"You…can control... gravity." Jaune bit out from his place on the ground, shifting around a loose tooth with his tongue.

"Kind of. I can control the perceived mass of things." They twirled the bat around like a baton as they strolled around the helpless youth, making sure to kick Crocea Mors away from his reach.

" _Shady Lady_ here is special. You are right that she uses dust, but only to augment my semblance. It takes a lot out of me to add mass. Energy-matter conversion. But that doesn't mean I _can't_ add mass to other things…" They tapped the bat against Jaune's cuirass, him feeling very much like an overturned turtle.

"Damn it." Jaune cursed, unable to push himself off the ground, and unable to even reach his scroll to check his aura which should be near the red by now.

"What's the matter? Hero of Beacon can't even bring himself to face trash like me?" Lorán stepped over his legs, pressing down slowly and painfully on one of his ankles.

"What?" Jaune struggled out his protest. "That's not it, that's… not it at all."

"You must think you're such a bigshot, huh? Knight in shining armor come to rescue the helpless maidens over there in backwater Mistral. Not so helpless now…" Jaune gulped as he felt the cold metal brush up against his family jewels. "Right?"

"Lorán! That's enough! He just wanted to help out!"

"Oh come on, no one ever does anything out of the goodness of their hearts!"

Kali's pleas fell on deaf ears, so she got ready for a forceful intervention. But she was blocked by the towering mass of her female teammate, who just stared down at her with an unconcerned expression.

"Charna, what are you doing? We have to stop the match!" The smaller woman glared up at her pale counterpart, who just looked over their shoulder carelessly at the apparent victor who was grinning maniacally down at the helpless young man.

"Jaune Arc says we support one another, da?" She met the fighter's eyes which might have been winking at her, and a message was exchanged. Then she looked back at Kali, now positively irate. "We see if strong idea, correct idea." The tall woman's eyes were cold, but still sought her teammate's trust and permission. "If correct, will be okay."

Kali bit her lip, but backed off reluctantly, giving deference to something she obviously didn't understand.

From his position on the ground, Jaune couldn't tell if it was fear or camaraderie that dissuaded the woman. Either, way, he could tell his situation just got that much worse.

"So, mister celebrity, where's your team at now?" Jaune thought he might have whimpered as the bat teased that most sensitive area. "How can we believe you'll stand with us if you won't even support your own teammates?"

It wasn't like he intended to leave them alone. All that time during the summer, even when he was with Naruto and Sasuke, he missed his teammates immensely. Nothing against the two, but he often felt like a third wheel. It wasn't solved when Sasuke left either, as Naruto still compared himself to the idea of the absent teen.

It felt so… right to be back among them once again. It was only a little, careless action that brought him to his knees. But sometimes all it took was for good people to do nothing.

"Let's hope the Arc women have more balls than this loser." He felt Lorán smile evilly behind him, and felt the bludgeon leave his groin as it raised up for the finishing blow.

"Don't give up Jaune!"

Despite the physically and metaphorically dark situation, he brightened at the familiar voice.

"Pyrrha?"

"Kick their ass, Jaune!"

"Nora?"

"Break their legs Jaune!"

"Umm… Ren?"

He imagined the black-haired boy's resigned shrug as he could see nothing but dirt. Rather than dwell on that, he focused instead on the rekindled flame his teammates had stoked. Coupled with the desperation that any man faces when threatened with such an outcome, he found the energy to try again.

But his armor was still too heavy, even after all that physical training. The chest piece alone must have weight close to a ton. And he couldn't reach the latch from his current position, or rather, Lorán wouldn't let him. The foot which was not on his ankle pinned down his wrist.

And, but, only on his right wrist. His left hand was still free to move about. Not close enough to grasp his weapon which lay just too far away, but close enough for something else.

"All this sentimental shit I can't abide." They narrowed their gaze at the sudden appearance of Jaune's teammates, whose own glares clearly stated that they would bail out their leader if need be. "I understand strength in numbers. But the chain is only as strong as its weakest link. If you're not strong enough to stand on your own, what good are you?"

"Being strong doesn't make you right or good." Jaune gasped out, struggling to shift himself just enough. "And everyone, strong or weak, starts off by crawling on hands and knees."

His finger hit the button unexpectedly for both him and Lorán. But the latter got the worst of it as they were bucked off violently, the shield on Jaune's belt expanded and flipped the two over. His hands flew to the buckles on his armor, snapping them off and letting him burst free from his confinement.

He didn't go far. Lorán was just getting up off the ground, and Jaune was only a stride away.

"Damn." Was as far as they got out before Jaune kicked the smile off their face.

Lorán rolled away, but Jaune chased after. He was intent on reciprocating his treatment, not giving any quarter. But it wasn't out of revenge, rather to prove himself, to his team, and to theirs as well. He would weaponize his conviction.

Jaune was back upon them in an instant, fists and feet both flying frantically. The moderately structured match of fast-paced chess had turned into a brawl. Lorán still managed to sneak in some wild hits, but they had no more power than a smack on the wrist. Jaune, meanwhile, put several good ones straight down the pike. He could feel the cartilage under his fist break with a wet crack. Both were far beyond aura's protection.

Both were running out of strength. Jaune's strikes soon became sloppy and ineffectual against the desperate hands put up in front of the busted and bruised face. Lorán was down on knees against the exhausted onslaught.

"Come. On. Just. Give-" Each weary blow bounced off the bony arms, punctuating his statement. But Lorán struggled on tenaciously, and he was losing his own resilience faster than his opponent. He decided to switch targets.

"Up!"

His foot carried his word, flying straight up in between Lorán's knees. In the moment immediately afterwards, Jaune felt slightly sorry for doing it. But he held no regrets.

All of the spectators cringed as the dark-haired youth collapsed on their face, hands clutching that most intimate of areas. Jaune stood bent double as he tried to put on a brave face for the crowd that had gathered.

"What's the matter… don't have the balls to take what you dish out?" He said between labored breaths.

There was muffled response that came from the face planted on the ground.

"What was that?" He leaned over cautiously.

"I said," Lorán rolled over to reveal the swollen and bruised face which spit out a mess of grit before speaking. "I'm a fucking girl, you dick!"

"Oh, uhhhh… Sorry, I guess." He scratched the back of his head before it hit him. "Actually, no! I'm not!" He pointed an accusing finger down at the girl who was still in a great deal of pain. "You tried to castrate me!"

"I wasn't really going to do it, idiot." The self-proclaimed girl insisted. "Fuck, can't take a bleeding joke…"

"Serves you right." Kali muttered, walking over and trying to help her teammate to her feet.

"If it's any consolation," Ferrer jogged over and shot Jaune an apologetic look which was returned. Jaune had a feeling the stout youth would be dealing with the fallout of all this. "I thought it was funny."

"Fuck you Furry."

"Knock it off you two."

"She started it…"

Kali sighed at the childishness her team had devolved into from whatever elevated moral battle it had started as. She was embarrassed to be seen with them, but at least seemed to forget the presence of **the** Pyrrha Nikos, who was cautiously approaching with the rest of team JNPR. She struggled to bring her teammate upright as Lorán kept trying to curl up in a ball of rage and suffering. But the matter was taken out of her hands when Charna bent down and scooped the scrawny girl into her arms.

"First, we go to hospital." She carried the smaller woman like a baby in her arms. Before she turned around, she sent Jaune a knowing smirk. "Then we laugh in morning."

"Hardy fucking har…" Lorán's voice trickled down from the tall woman's arms.

The two opposites strode away in just a couple massive steps with the other pair falling in behind. The dark-haired male turned back to Jaune who was being approached by the rest of his teammates, also transfixed on the abrupt egress. Ferrer winked back at them and waved.

"Hasta luego, Jaune."

Kali too turned back to wave.

"Come visit us sometime. I owe you another drink." She flaunted some lien chips like fan at them before delivering another sugary-sweet laugh and skipping away after her friends.

The four Beacon students just watched them go in a stupor, which was only broken as Pyrrha turned to the bedraggled blond.

"What was that about?"

"Honestly," Jaune said as he collapsed backwards into Ren's waiting arms.

"I have no idea…"

* * *

Qrow watched on, feigning disinterest as Sasuke furrowed his eyebrows. Honestly it was Naruto who was harder to read, patiently silent and any trace expression in his eyes still hidden under the wide brim hat. Frankly it was a little unnerving, and his fingers itched for his flask. Then Sasuke's eyes snapped open, bearing down on the man with a cold intensity from his spot on the ground.

"How long have you known?"

"For sure? Only a couple of days." In between then and now he had been busy drinking himself silly several times over, trying to make up his mind.

Sasuke hummed softly at the information and his gaze wandered back down to his crossed legs. Naruto shifted to glance over at his partner, but still remained in oddly silent speculation. Even Sasuke didn't know what was going on inside his head.

"Aurelia told me about the Branwens, about your people. They're not a group to be taken lightly."

"Do you think that's what I'm suggesting? I may be a drunk, but I'm not stupid." Despite previously being two sheets to the wind, his demeanor had sobered up immensely in the time it took him to fill them in.

"So you think the three of us are enough to go after the Spring Maiden on our own?" Sasuke had faced a Maiden before, and not even one with any experience with her powers. He was hesitant to do so again without some kind of edge.

"What," Qrow smirked down at the two costumed teens, "Don't think you're up to the challenge?"

Sasuke stared back with an almost disappointed expression, chastising the man for thinking such obvious goading would work on them.

"I don't think that matters." The two turned to Naruto as he removed his sugegasa, staring at it in his hands, but focusing somewhere else. "We don't really have a choice." He met Qrow's eyes at last, and the huntsman could see it wasn't the same lost boy he had seen those many nights ago.

"We're at war, and we have an opportunity to do something that would make a difference. We're obligated to go after it."

"Not if it's a suicide mission." Sasuke grumbled.

"And if it is?"

Naruto turned to him and Sasuke was taken aback by the disillusionment he found. He was unnerved at the morbid resignation in his friend's voice. He was prepared to give everything to their mission. They had been brought up to be accustomed to the idea of self-sacrifice, but Sasuke wasn't yet sure if he was that committed to the fate of this world. Clearly, Naruto had found something that he had not.

"Don't get ahead of yourself now, kid." But silently the man was mildly shaken as well. "It's not worth dying over. At the moment, Raven isn't on anyone's side but her own. If she has the Spring Maiden, it means that we don't. But it also means Salem doesn't, either." He gave the two a lopsided grin that was supposed to instill confidence. "And plus, I wouldn't be asking if I didn't think you two were up to the task."

But the truth was he didn't know for sure. He kept himself from thinking about it too much, lest he get second thoughts. He knew the two were capable, but compared to whatever his sister had planned, he always left room for uncertainty.

"If we have to make a choice…" Sasuke spoke up, critical gaze searching Qrow. "If we can't capture her, do we leave her in your sister's hands?"

Silently he asked the question, if it was between their lives, and hers…

Which would it be?

Qrow narrowed his eyes at the seriousness of the two. He wondered if perhaps he had betrayed his urgency. Naruto knew, and Sasuke might have known by now that Ruby was more than normal, maybe even sussed out her connection with the Kyuubi. But there was no way in hell that they could possibly know of the bargain Raven offered him, or how close he was to actually accepting it.

He sighed, ready to light the match that would burn many longstanding bridges.

"If you have to choose between letting her go, and taking her out…" He saw the shy dilation in Naruto's eyes. He was fine sacrificing his own life, but taking another in cold blood still disturbed him. Qrow couldn't blame him for that, but hoped that for his sake he wouldn't let that empathy get him killed.

"Best kill her."

The decision wasn't meant to be spiteful, yet that's what it felt like.

For Sasuke, it was a given. Scorched earth policy hadn't been used much since the last great war between the Kingdoms, but it was standard for academy training.

The woven straw hat collapsed in Naruto's clenched grip as he warred within himself. It was silly. It was foolish. It was stupid to the point of criminal. He had killed before, and held no illusions he would do so time and time again. But could he really condemn the girl for running away from a responsibility she had never asked for?

The memories Ruby had let him glimpse painted a picture he knew, but could never imagine living. He admired… himself? No, that **other** Naruto, the one he was only when he was with the dark-haired girl. Both his other self and the Spring Maiden had been forced to bear something against their will. Could he honestly say that presented with the same situation he would bear it?

Yes. That's what he was doing right now. Trying to, anyway.

Keeping everyone safe was worth one, not so innocent life.

Naruto looked up at Qrow and nodded seriously, a gesture that was mimicked by the older man.

Personally, Qrow was glad to have the backup, though he'd never admit it. Another reason he chose now was because he knew that his sister would be away from the rest of her band. But if in the off chance she wasn't, he still didn't know if he could bring himself to face her. If anyone else had that chance, it was those two.

And he would do everything in his power to keep his promise. Anything to bring that blond one back alive. Though he was a little concerned the boy seemed so eager to become a martyr, he hoped it was just an expression of his determination.

Qrow never imagined one day he'd become someone dependable, but then again, maybe that brat was rubbing off on him more than he knew.

"Alright. Here's the plan…"

* * *

Plans never survived first contact with the enemy. That was something her sister had drilled into her since day one. But never did Weiss think that such an idiom would apply to a peacekeeping mission. Then again, their track record didn't lend well to the hope of an easy time.

"Weiss! Are you okay? Did you get hurt? D-"

The snow-themed girl made a hushing gesture with her finger as she draped her knit scarf and hat on the waiting coatrack. Penny emerged from the open door behind her, circumventing Weiss and making for a solitary corner of the kitchen. She lay the loaf of bread on the counter and busied herself to give the teammates some privacy.

"I'm fine, Ruby." She hoped the other girl believed this and didn't look too closely at her overly-rosy cheeks or bloodshot eyes. "Really, I am. What are you doing up at this hour? Are the others awake too?" She hoped her captain hadn't gotten so spooked by her absence that she woke the rest of the team up to go out looking for her. In retrospect, maybe she should have left a note. Never did she think she would have to have an escort in her own home town.

Except that she had always had one before. And that this wasn't her home town. It was next door, but a world apart.

"No," Ruby shook her head, scaling her voice back appropriately. "The others are still asleep. I…" Was up all night because the demon fox in my gut haunts my dreams with whispered pleas for me to slit your throats. "...couldn't sleep."

"You too, huh?" Weiss sighed and sat down across the small, round table which had been dusted in the time she had been gone.

"Forgive me, Ruby. I should have waited to tell one of you before heading out on my own. I'm sorry if I worried you."

"No, that's alright Weiss." Ruby patted her partner's hand draped across the table. "You know me, I'm just a worry-wart."

Weiss gave her a tight-lipped smile in gratitude for downplaying her own foolishness, and for not pressing her with too many questions. She normally would have assumed the younger girl to be totally unaware of her shaken demeanor, but this Ruby was proving surprisingly perceptive and doubtlessly noticed the obvious signs of disquiet.

Weiss would be more careful with herself from then on, considering where they were. It wasn't paranoia if someone was really out to get you.

Two small plates were placed down in front of them, each a mirrored pair of perfect slices from the crusty loaf Penny had brought in. In the middle was set a modest jar of bright-red preserves and a stick of butter that was still hard despite being left out all night.

"Coffee will be ready in three minutes thirty-five seconds and three-hundred…" She hiccupped. "um, soon."

"Thanks Penny!" Ruby shot the thanks at the gynoid while scooping a heaping teaspoon of jam onto her share.

"Yes, thank you." Weiss added, taking the butter knife that was presented and carefully scraping off just the top layer and lightly coating her bread, before waiting patiently for the other girl to finish.

What respect Ruby had managed to earn was quickly dismissed along with half the jar of jam. Grimacing, she snatched the spoon away to scrape up what was left at the bottom.

"I suggest that we get some supplies today." Penny called from the kitchen, meticulously pouring two dainty cups of coffee which belched profuse amounts of steam into the air. She set the kettle down and exchanged it for a small carafe of milk. "And I would suggest that we travel everywhere in groups of at least two, for safety." She carefully measured out a single teaspoon of sugar into one, stopped, then picked up the container and began pouring it into the other.

"You make it sound like this place is dangerous." Ruby moaned out to Penny as she brought the two porcelain cups over, her gyroscope making sure there wasn't so much as a ripple as she set them on the table.

"Violent crime rates have escalated over 168% in recent months." The android replied before taking up a third seat adjacent to the two. "I am merely suggesting caution." It was her duty to protect everyone on the team while on their mission. But if push came to shove, she would be obliged to put Ruby's safety above the other three because of the general's order. She was just trying to avoid having to make that decision.

"Well, that **is** why we are here." Weiss rolled her eyes, playing the game along with her captain and taking a dainty bite of her picturesque breakfast. She chewed attentively, savoring the taste, before swallowing and taking an unhurried sip of coffee, which had already cooled considerably in the unheated room. She blinked. It was very good.

"Well, I guess I understand that." Ruby was very careful to swallow her mouthful of sugary bread before speaking to avoid chastisement. "So we aren't just helping them to fight Grimm, we'll bust up a few crooks while we're at it, nothing team RWBY can't handle." She looked down at the almost overfull cup skeptically, before carefully picking it up and bringing it to her lips. She took a big gulp to try and bring the liquid level down, but only succeeded in burning her mouth.

"Ruby, the Townships are completely walled off with two layers of electric fence. The possibility of Grimm getting in is highly unlikely. And when they do, they are a big enough threat that the military usually responds within minutes." Weiss didn't know how to spell it out to the naïve girl tactfully.

"So… we're not really protecting them from Grimm…what are we doing?" Realization hit, and she looked more pained than when her mouth was on fire. "…We're not protecting them at all. We're protecting Atlas from them."

"Mostly…" If Blake were here, she would say that they were trying to pacify the animals locked within the cage. She wouldn't be wrong. "We have to get them to trust us, somehow. We need their support, or at least need to make sure that they aren't going to be an enemy." She amended, realizing that the former might be impossible given what happened this morning.

All this talk of politics and enemies revived Glynda's words of war in Ruby's head which weighed heavily on her already burdened outlook. But she refused to let it get her down. She needed to be strong for her teammates, for those here and those back at home.

"Don't worry Weiss," Ruby's confident smile warmed the table more than the coffee. "I believe that people are generally good, and we'll make them believe it as well. Like Yang always says, trust is a two-way street. We can do it, I know we can."

Weiss gave her partner a token smile. The hope was all well and good, but it only really worked if they believed in it too.

Penny smiled too, but behind her absent expression were countless calculations. She weighed the possible outcomes. Chances of total and partial success, as well as every degree of failure. The numbers didn't look good, given the history of the Townships and Faunus relations in general.

But nothing in her calculations could account for her smile, which was entirely her own. She trusted Ruby to pull it off. Her friend was gifted. Not just in the ways that Ironwood and Qrow warned her of, but from what she had seen firsthand.

"Alright team!" Ruby slammed her palms on the table, rattling the dishes and completely forgetting about what time it was. She pointed her finger out the frost-coated window. "Let's get out there and make some friends!"

Weiss tried to latch on to her captain's assuredness, but still felt dismal at their prospects. They were student huntresses, tasked with doing a job her sister and an entire battalion of specially trained military police had been unable to overcome. The system was faulted from the ground up, even she would admit that. Their minor intervention this late in the game couldn't hope to change anything.

Could it?

It wasn't impossible, just improbable. They had already done the impossible, everything else from then on was just child's play.

* * *

"Wow Jaune, I never thought you'd have it in you to hit a girl." Nora leaned forward over the coffee table, practically balancing on her hands in minimally restrained excitement. "Way to go!"

"Well it's not like I even meant to-ouch!"

"Sorry!" His redheaded partner apologized as she dutifully disinfected her captain's minor wounds.

"You see? Our captain's so awesome now that he kicks ass without even trying!" The excitable woman threw her hands up into the air, collapsing back into the small couch next to Ren. "Next time could you **try** to wait for us?"

"By all means…" Jaune grumbled, replacing Pyrrha's gentle hand with an ice pack on his aching forehead. "What took you guys so long anyway?"

"You did just take off without telling us anything, and need I remind you, leaving us with the fallout…" Ren jerked his eyes to his right where Nora was still busy lamenting her 'boring' day with full graphic pantomime.

Jaune flinched at the truth in the admonishment. They all had every right to be displeased with him, and honestly, he was more disappointed with himself. His team saw this inwardly-directed negative thought, though. Ren took it upon himself to be the voice of reason to spare Pyrrha from having to chastise their leader. She had been the most upset by the whole episode, and was equally affected by Jaune's dour mood.

He tried to bury it beneath the obvious physical pain. But hiding his emotions was not one of the things he had learned over the break.

"Yeah, I guess I kind of did. Sorry about that, you guys." Pyrrha patted his shoulder to let him know that she had done all she could for his scratches and bruises. She then seated herself on the back of his couch, facing the door. "I wasn't even really thinking about leaving. The only thing in my mind was what to do with Lionheart, and Haven."

Ren nodded and Pyrrha frowned deeply, hiding the ugly expression by turning fully away from the group. They had always relied on Jaune to come up with the strategy by himself, and doing so this time had led to events which quickly ballooned beyond their control. She worried that they were already in over their heads, and that this was just a symptom of an already unsound mission.

"I should have stuck with you guys, and we could have come up with a plan together. Damnit!" His hand slammed into the armrest, startling his teammates across from him and shaking Pyrrha from her perch. "Why do I always have to be so stupid? We might as well be in enemy territory, and I just mindlessly walk off, leaving you guys by yourselves."

"Relax Jaune," Ren soothed with a hand raised in mild concern, he was already halfway off the couch and across the thin separation between them. "We're all okay. You're okay. As long as we are all alive, everything is alright."

"But it might **not** be okay. I might have put us all in danger." He threw himself back against the couch, running his hands over his face and through his ever-thickening hair. "I think that I did something really, really stupid. For all I know, the huntress I beat up could have been a diplomat's daughter or something, and I might have thrown away any shot at persuading Lionheart."

The rest were all silent at this. They had all arrived far too late to make heads or tails of the situation, and so could offer no advice either way. Pyrrha may have been a Mistral native, but she had spent much time away and on the road for her tournaments. Thankfully she had never been subject to the politics which ran things behind the scenes, though now she wish she had.

"I mean, I just sat down and started spilling my guts out to them at the café. And for what? A free drink? Because someone recognized me? Do I really just turn into a complete idiot when confronted with a pretty face?" To their credit, his team kept masterfully straight faces at this rhetorical question.

"If this Salem woman is competent enough to launch a successful attack against Beacon, there's no telling how many, and what kind of agents she has at her disposal. **Anyone** could be an enemy here. Hell! There might still be some calling themselves our allies, our friends, for all we know!"

"You don't really believe that, do you?" Pyrrha's soft voice was like a slap in the face in the silent pall that followed Jaune's diatribe. It was so full of hurt accusation that his hand shot to his chest, knuckles turning white as he gripped the loose-weave garment. They hadn't managed to recover his armor yet.

"No, I guess I don't." He admitted. "I still won't deny the possibility, but I trust our friends. All of them." He looked over his shoulder to see Pyrrha give him a weak smile which he tried to return. He turned back to the other two, but stared at the empty coffee table. "It's just that I know I made a rookie mistake, and even if it turned out alright, it's not something we can afford right now. At the very least, I wasted our time, time we don't have. We're at war now."

That was something he doubted any of them appreciated. Hell, he couldn't say that he fully grasped it. How could they, when everything continued on like usual? But none of it was normal. They had stumbled into combat once before, and there was nothing they could do to prepare themselves for the next time. It wasn't that image of war that they got only from dry history texts or glorified movies. It would come upon them swiftly and without warning, unassuming as the spar he had found himself in just a few hours before.

Just as they weren't prepared for the knock at the door which sent each of them to their feet, and had Pyrrha reflexively leap for her weapon which lay not far out of her reach. She shot a look back at the other three, motioning for the two uninjured to arm themselves, and for Jaune to stay out of the way. He didn't argue.

It was perhaps overly cautious, bordering on paranoia. But it wasn't paranoia if someone really was trying to kill you. The chances, though, that an attacker would use the front door, let alone knock first was slim. But the knocking was continuous and growing louder. So she approached the entrance swiftly but silently, as if she had not thought twice before opening it.

Her hand had only just touched the latch when the sliding paper door was thrown from its track, out at her and into the room.

The wood lattice door split easily when confronted with Miló. But the object was merely a distraction as a blur like a skittering rat shot past her. Pyrrha tried pivoting to slash, but ended up tripping on whatever entered the room, and her momentum carried her out into the dark street.

The dark blur darting past Pyrrha leapt into the light of the room, alighting itself on the back of the bench Jaune had just been sitting in .Crouching down, It regarded the stunned occupants with stony eyes and a wicked grin like a predator that had trapped its prey.

"You!"

Pyrrha heard the accusation come from inside the room.

"Sorry for intrusion."

This call came from above. She blinked at her two feet planted firmly on the ground outside. Except that they were too large to be hers. And she never owned a pair of black heels. And they were facing the wrong way.

"I'm really sorry for this Ms. Nikos,"

Another voice, aching with mortification called out from above her. She felt herself be lifted up by her armpits and set back down on her own two feet, registering the solid feeling underneath her this time. She blinked again, realizing that she actually had to look up slightly to see the face connected to that graceful body.

"Uh, thanks, uh…"

"Charna. Tigrikov." The incredibly tall and dower woman supplied, nodding shallowly. "We meet, earlier today."

Of course they did. There were very few women (or men, for that matter) that were as tall as she, let alone had a whole head lead. It would not be easy to forget that face.

But if she were here, that meant…

"You!" Her captain's fearful voice echoed back, and she felt her eyes widen as she spun around.

"Jaune!"

"Help Pyrrha! She's come back for revenge!"

"Please. Like I'd waste my time on something as petty as that."

Even with Kali wrapping her entire body around her arm, Pyrrha was barely dissuaded from charging back into the room and interjecting herself between Jaune and the anorexic psycho skinhead O'Conner, who was perched on the back of the couch like a gargoyle. The addition of Charna's steady hand stopped her firmly.

Pyrrha looked at the two. She didn't want another fight to break out there. She would have to trust her teammates that had already put themselves between the two.

If not revenge, it was hard to guess Lorán's motivation. It looked like she had dragged herself out of the hospital, if not the grave, to be there that night. Bandages covered a goodly portion of her body including her flat chest, the ragged tee being completely shredded, earlier during the fight she had instigated. The bindings were hardly necessary, Pyrrha thought to herself spitefully.

"Are you trying to say that our captain's not worth an elaborate revenge-scheme?!" Nora shouted angrily, apparently more offended than concerned. "How dare you!"

"I don't think that this is a very elaborate plan, Nora." Her friend pointed out patiently, never taking his eyes off the still bored looking androgynous teen and never letting his hands drift away from his holstered weapons. "They did just burst through the front door."

"That's what makes it so insidious!"

"Merde! Look everyone, just calm down, okay?!"

Out of breath and disheveled as if he had just gone through a fight himself, the only male member of the Mistral team practically threw himself in between the would-be combatants. The sudden action put everyone on edge once again, but seeing his arms raised high above his head with no clear weapon in sight gave them pause.

"Okay… that's it… deep breaths." He followed his own advice, one hand falling to his heaving chest and his stubby legs almost buckling.

"Ferrer, you pussy." Lorán sighed and rolled her one visible eye which was sporting a mean looking shiner from an impressive right hook Jaune had thrown earlier. She still threw her hands up in resignation. "Look, I'm not here for a fight."

"Like hell!"

"You busted down our door!"

"Pretty please? I'm sooo booored!"

The consecutive shouts were once again swept aside as Kali disengaged herself from Pyrrha and made her own way into the standoff.

"It's true! Look, please, everyone, we just came here to talk. Well, actually…"

" **She** wants talk. We follow her." Charna stated as she stooped underneath the lintel and walked the rest of the way in. She stopped behind Lorán, folding her arms and staring down accusingly at her injured teammate.

It was a long way down.

"No one invited you…" Lorán grumbled under her breath. Pyrrha had by now sidestepped the growing pile of uninvited guests and taken up ranks next to her comrades. "Damn! Yes! I need to talk to the blond beanstalk over there." She jabbed finger at Jaune who was still very visibly skeptical at the nature of the midnight visit.

"How do we know we can trust you?" He questioned warily.

"I'm not trying to win your trust. You are trying to win mine."

The answer shocked Jaune with its frank nonsensicalness. There was absolutely nothing recommending her sincerity besides the serious look in her eye and his gut feeling. And right now, his gut was telling him to puke up on the floor and run away screaming like little girl.

He'd had a lot of time to work on suppressing that flightier instinct, however, and so weighed the options carefully as the tension in the room remained as tight as a high wire.

"Would you just make up your fucking mind already?! My bloody crotch is going to cramp up at this rate!"

This irreverent shout shattered his internal debate and drew a blush from nearly everyone in the room as the tomboy grabbed her inner-thigh for emphasis.

Jaune buried his head in his hands as the overwhelmingly long day fully caught up with him. He was dead tired, and he just wanted it all to be over with.

"Damn it…"

It was just like every other day before it.

* * *

"Once again," Kali started out, the dark-haired woman issuing a namaste with her hands in apology. "I am very sorry for disturbing you this time of night."

But the rest all ignored her. The two groups sat rigidly opposed to one another in the living room of the guest house Beacon had rented for them. Weapons were put away and both groups were seated, but the atmosphere was still on a hair-trigger, with few exceptions.

The culprit of the whole mess being one of those unaffected, as Lorán kicked her legs back on the coffee table. She was sandwiched between the other two females in the group, on the couch closest to the door they had broken into which was barely enough room for the three. She absently picked at her ear with her pinky, as if she hadn't just invaded JNPR's privacy and molested their sense of security.

"Explain." Pyrrha wasn't having any of it. "Please."

"Easy, don't get your panties in a knot. No need to show off, blondie's got enough balls for the both of you." Lorán smirked as she flicked away a yellow glob.

Pyrrha tried to make the red in her cheeks look as angry as possible.

"Frankly I'm surprised you haven't figured it out yet." Lorán shot at Jaune, completely ignoring the death glare she was getting.

"You give me too much credit." Jaune ground out with false humility. He was tired of playing games, with Lionheart and now with this woman who seemed overly fond of testing him. "You mind explaining it to me in layman's terms?"

Lorán stared down the leader of team JNPR, trying to see if he was being serious or if he was being spiteful for her previous actions. Perhaps she did give him too much credit. Perhaps this was a mistake. Regardless, it was too late now. Too many things had been set in motion already, even before she had busted down their door. And as always, they were running out of time.

"You said that you wanted to help us. You said that you were trying to bring students back to Haven academy." This was said as a statement, but left a pause after for Jaune to respond.

"Yeah, that's us." He sighed out morosely. "Big fucking heroes."

Ren put a hand on his shoulder while his other two teammates stared at the young man in muted awe, never having heard him swear before. Lorán betrayed no sympathy, and in fact looked almost upset that Jaune was so looking so despondent.

"Well, I believe you."

"Gee, thanks. And all it took was you holding my manhood hostage." She shrugged.

"Trust doesn't come easy."

"Well, what do I do now that I have it? Where does this get me?" His tone began rising, his body following it off of the couch until he was practically towering over the other side. "I've got the support of one team. Four students out of gods know how many. **Students**. Not teachers. Not staff. And certainly not headmasters. So tell me: what am I supposed to do with that? How do I proceed to drag a victory out of this pile of rubbish?" He threw his arms to the side, indicating their team as much as his own.

In all this, Lorán actually seemed to relax, more accepting of this passionate Jaune than the one who was down in the dumps. He was getting upset, but that was because he was emotionally invested. He was betting on them, sacrificing his contentment for their sake. That was the kind of character others would follow. After all, nothing worth doing was easy.

"How many do you need?"

"E-excuse me?" Jaune faltered, out of breath from his diatribe.

"I said," She repeated patiently. "How. Many. Do. You. Need? As in: if you were to name a percentage of the student body that would be enough to create political pressure against the administration that they would be forced to recommence studies at the academy, what would that number be?"

"Um," He was dumbstruck, for as much as he continued to doubt the unbalanced woman's sincerity, she stared at him with such a passionate intensity that he was almost inclined to believe her. "I don't know," He had already gone over the number many times in his head. But he still didn't trust her. "85, 90% of the student body? Like, 300, 350 students?"

There was another pause in which all eyes were on Lorán, but the punkish woman gave nothing as she closed her eyes in feigned meditation, not comfortable with all the attention on her. But behind those clamped eyelids, Jaune could also tell she was cranking her own numbers. He could see the one eye flitter back and forth behind that thin layer of skin. Then at once it flew open and she stood up.

"Right then. We'll be in touch shortly." She abruptly quit the couch, strutting quickly towards the empty doorway, hands shoved deep in the pockets of her scrubs she had walked out of the hospital with.

"Wait, wait!" Jaune called out after her retreating form. She halted but didn't turn to face him. "You mean to tell me that you can organize that much of the student body, just like that? That, that's-" he ran has hands roughly through his hair, shaking his head violently. "Look-say I believe you-just let's suppose. Why? Why would you do this for me? If they'll listen to you, why not do it yourself?"

She sighed, boney shoulders straining under tight wrappings that had been worn loose.

"You know, maybe you're not quite as smart as I thought." She rolled her head around as if stuck in the middle of a conversation only she could hear. "Whatever." She turned around. "People will listen to smarts and reason. At first. They'll do what I tell them too because they know I'm crazy. But what scares them more is losing everything. And that's what they're up against right now. Logic, reason, and even _Shady Lady_ can't compete with that." She turned back around, her teammates moving once again to flank her, looking every bit the mottled family unit with their homogenous dark hair.

"I can't convince them that it's worth it to fight for what they want. That's just not something I'm good at. I can reason with them all day long, but the goal's too long-term for most of them to grasp it. They don't want to shake things up now because that's what'll put food on the table and keep them out of trouble. Most of them can't realize that what they have now will only last a few years, a few months maybe if they don't fight for it." She pointed a finger at Jaune, before the hand clicked to each of team JNPR in turn.

"You all get it. You've seen the writing on the wall. I see it in your eyes, just as I saw it when we first met. I just needed to confirm the fact that you changed from that naïve prick in the tournament into someone people can put their faith in." The hand dropped, and she planted it on her hip. "So I trust that you'll put yourself on the line now to give us a victory. Pick Haven up like you did Beacon. I'll take care of the rest."

"Wait." She had already turned around again, obviously anxious to go. Whether she was off to rally the others or crash in bed, much as he wanted to do, was beyond knowing.

"Does that mean you think we have a chance?" The other Haven students looked to Jaune, and then to their comrade, not indicating anything.

"Don't push it, Jaune Arc." There was a familiar mirth behind the words that almost made Jaune smile. It was like dealing with someone he knew.

"It doesn't matter what I believe. You do what you can to give people hope, and I'll get you your army."

* * *

 **Yay! Student Revolution! Because that _Always_ works out. **


	12. Still That Way

**Hey y'all. Sorry I'm late. I've been dealing with a lot of personal shit in my life that makes writing difficult, both physically and mentally. Like Weiss, I feel I can use a hug. *sigh* anyway, onto the good stuff. At least, I hope it's the good stuff.**

* * *

The night air hung frozen in the low-lying mountains north-west of Mistral. Stars twinkling in the space between treetops were like church bells in the abject stillness. The wind whistling through the scraggly branches the pipe organ.

His shallow breathing was nails on a chalkboard in comparison, foggy plumes escaping out into the otherwise still night, a practical smoke signal for anyone watching. He grabbed a handful of fluffy snow and chomped down on it. His hot breath ran through the cold filter and burned his lungs.

It was a cold night, but his blood boiled.

It was so cold that his semblance would be affected to the point where it would take a concentration of effort to maintain. But he didn't need to hold it for long, just enough to glide over the stone's throw between him and the slumbering encampment without leaving footprints. He was a ghost in the dark as he slipped past matter's restraint and took up residency in the hollow breeze.

He drifted just above the snowpack, riding that dense pocket of air past the scant underbrush and its unknowing inhabitants. A snow hare perked up its ears as he floated by. A chipmunk cocked its head in return of his whispered journey. The guard sat unaware in the cold hollow of a tree away from the fire, a thick fur cloak and to keep him warm.

The man's features were hidden by a large hood and dark wrappings, as much against the cold as to being spotted. Black on black, ensconced in the split trunk of the pine tree, he was nigh invisible if one did not know he was there. And even if they did, most would only see the beady eyes like pinhole cameras scanning the bleak taiga laid out in front of him.

Our phantom knew he was there, though. And unlike humans, he could smell the man beneath the misleading scent of his furs. And unlike most everyone else, he could sense the beast that lay beneath the skin of the man. He had no qualms about doing what had to be done.

He dropped out of suspension like a leaf, the only sound that he was there was the brief crunch as his bundled feet slipped through the iced surface.

And by then it was too late.

His hand reached out through the bulk of the tree and into the hollow on the other side. It was a strange feeling, forcing his essence through the reluctant cells in the living framework, them trying and failing to breath his gaseous state. Don't worry tree. This will be quick.

By the time the watchman figured out the footsteps had come from behind him, a knife was already buried into his spinal column. His mind continued to work furiously for a few seconds longer as his bodily functions shut down in succession without the commands keeping them alive.

The body slumped over in its niche with even less sound than his careful footsteps. He pulled his rudimentary blade back out through the protesting trunk, taking the midnight-colored cloak with it. He tossed it around his shoulders and pulled the cowl up over his pointed ears and face, ignoring the cold patch of blood fast-frozen on the back of his neck. He repressed a shudder.

He was grateful for the ample cover the hood provided. It hid his unforgettable face from them, as much as it hid the almost sick expression etched there from himself. He couldn't afford to indulge in self-depreciating emotions. Not yet, anyway. Not until this was over.

He buried his frown deeper into the shadow cast by the small fire burning in the center of camp. Black yurts hugged the pure snow like abscesses, a plight among this forest that was trying to heal the land.

But no matter how much he justified it, there were still humans inside of those cancerous mounds. And by the time this was over, many more would be dead by his hands.

* * *

Existing inside the Township wasn't as bad as Weiss had first suspected.

It was worse.

A few hours after her first solo venture, the rest of her team had set out together to meet with the community's elected leader. The title was variable, depending on who asked, and more symbolic than anything else given the only semi-autonomous nature of the Township. Then again, their whole presence was symbolic as well, so it was only fitting.

Together, their meeting was not a good omen for things to come.

They had made it to the humble abode without incident. Weiss was thoroughly wrapped up so that all her iconic features were hidden, and traveled in the center of their entourage for extra measure, flanked on all sides by the rest of team RWBY, plus Penny.

They had been greeted at the door by the leader's spouse, an agreeable man who portended leniency with his soft features and even softer mane. They were ushered in hurriedly out of the cold and set up in the almost cramped living room across from the decider of the Faunus community.

The matronly woman greeted them amicably over tea brought in by her husband, shared pleasantries with the captain of their squad and the token Faunus on their team. But that was when things went downhill.

" _The General informed me that he would be sending a Schnee in to our midst." The once kind face scrunched back in a sneer that revealed elongated canines. "I honestly thought that he was joking. Now I see he thinks we are the joke."_

It could have _almost_ been alright if it was just a slight on her family name, but first impressions were critical if they wanted to establish a good working relationship.

No amount of character defense from her team could convince the August woman otherwise. Weiss wasn't even allowed to speak for herself, advised continuously against it by both Blake and Penny through hushed ques and hidden hand gestures.

But after continuing to bear increasingly inflammatory remarks which condemned both her and her family, she could no longer sit humbly in silence. She should have headed their advice, because the moment she opened her mouth she only made it worse.

The once kindly old man had shown them the door abruptly, tossing their winter coats out after them. The two-bedroom home was like a community center, so the bystanders watched their ejection judiciously. And in little time, many were drawn to the commotion surrounding it. Rumor spread quickly, and despite their efforts to once again disguise her presence, the townsfolk were soon aware of the Schnee in their midst. A small mob followed them doggedly, rabid at the chance for blood after having endured their own silent captivity for so long.

They managed to get her back to the flat at the outskirts of town before things got too out of hand. Still, some less-restrained among the crowd chucked a few snowballs with stones buried at their center at the staggered young woman, marking another blemish on her pretty porcelain face. The team hurried her back inside with the immutable Penny posted outside as guard.

Words were spoken in consolation, to her and the townsfolk. But she didn't hear them, and they didn't want to listen. Eventually Blake convinced the rest of them to go back and try to make amends, leaving Weiss in the relative safety of the flat. Their task had already been made that much harder by the whole, _snowballing_ incident (Yang's attempt at humor earned her many stern glares). Their captain reluctantly agreed, as long as Penny stayed for security.

That had been two weeks ago, and the only thing that had changed was the lack of an ice pack on her forehead as Weiss sat perpetually at the kitchen table. Her head cradled in hand as she stared despondently at her reflection in the tepid coffee cup in front of her.

The rest of her team ventured out dutifully every day well before the crack of dawn, trying to make recompense for all the wrongs the government of Atlas imposed on their Faunus residents. And Weiss was relegated to the gloomy flat with Penny only sometimes hanging around to make sure no one tried anything foolish. The android's guard duties had become increasingly infrequent, though. Her reluctance to leave Ruby's side a strange and recurring argument.

It didn't seem to matter, however. No matter how hard they labored, no matter how many humanitarian works they assisted, and no matter how many good deeds they perpetrated, it would never take the place of an actual concession by the Atlassian government. At the end of the day it was impossible to hide the fact that it was still just a gilded cage.

The debilitating ennui of their white-haired teammate was starting to rub off on them. How were they supposed to accomplish anything without any tools? How were they supposed to correct centuries of animosities in just a few weeks? They were throwing pennies into a fountain to try and fix it.

It began to seem like they were set up for failure from the beginning. And if the request had come from the Dictatorship, they would have bet on it. But from what Glynda had told them, it had come as a personal request from Ironwood. By now they all knew the man's faults and foibles, but never would they take him for someone who would send them to fight a hopeless cause.

They were starting to question even this, though.

Weiss didn't even flinch as the door banged open and the rest of her team poured in out of the snow which was blowing almost horizontally. She didn't so much as raise her eyes as the mass of bodies bumbled about in the foyer, trying to remove their snow-caked clothes in the tiny space and making a comic mess of it in their desperation to avoid the storm outside.

"Phew! I can't believe we made it back!" Yang revealed herself from underneath a bright-red scarf and patterned knit cap which she tossed at the clothes rack before shoving her way further into the open floorplan between kitchenette and living room.

"Yeah, but we didn't finish, so we still have to go back tomorrow." Blake sighed, removing only her black-wool overcoat which was shedding sheets of ice, and staggering onto the couch with the rest of her warm clothes on. "And now we're going to have knee-deep snow to dig out before we can even start on the next foundation."

"Don't care!" Yang yelled flippantly over her shoulder as she hurried up the staircase. "That's tomorrow, and right now I'm going to take a lukewarm shower and head to bed, because I am beat!"

It was hard to appreciate their accommodations, but after a while they learned how to do it. Nothing in the flat worked right, and was all in varying states of disrepair. Much like the shower, which never ran above a trickle. But it made them appreciate how good they had it back in Beacon. It also gave them good insight as to how the townsfolk lived their lives. The rented space being typical for the enclave, and if they were being honest, better than a lot of other 'homes' they had seen.

That was why they had spent the better part of the last week helping to build new houses to replace the more unlivable hovels that were on the verge of collapsing. With this storm that had just rolled in the last 24 hours, a few of those huts were probably already gone, and so the endeavor was started none too soon.

Ruby sighed as she shuffled in, looking back and forth at her ragged team before hanging her ushanka on a low hook and walking into the living room.

"I guess I'll light a fire."

"That would be nice." Blake muttered weakly, staring at the cracked ceiling with an arm resting across her forehead. Never would any of them have thought that they would be relegated to doing manual labor, or that it would be so exhausting.

"I shall help!" The ginger android declared cheerfully, following in her ward's footsteps.

"That's alright, Penny. I got it." Ruby waved her off, grimacing as she noted the scarcity of wood inside. She would have to go get more from the stock under the eaves outside if they wanted their heat to last more than an hour. "If you could get dinner started, though, that would be awesome. I'm not sure I trust myself to handle anything sharp right now."

She gave a lopsided smile and held her excoriated hands up for emphasis. They were red and raw from the amount of physical work she had done. Blake glanced over and winced at the sight. The older woman felt a certain amount of guilt, even given the decrepit state of her own body. Ruby's semblance allowed her to work at a furious pace, zipping back and forth around the construction site and hopping from one job to the next. It took a toll on her, doing in hours what work would normally be accomplished in weeks.

But the girl didn't mind, and merely disguised the wince with a smile as she picked up the rough logs and stacked them in the wood stove. Despite how nasty it looked right now, with popped blisters and split callouses peppering her palm (eww, eww, eww, don't think about it!), by the morning it would all be healed without a mark to show for it.

Such was the benefit, as well as the burden of being a Jinchuriki, as she was now finding out. She had barely learned how to pronounce it, before having to learn all the ramifications it presented.

The sounds of automatic chopping like a woodpecker echoed from the kitchen as the android set about her task preparing vegetables for that night's stew.

Stew was easy and warming on a cold night such as this. Plus, it wasn't hard to cut back on the ingredients being added, and make up for the bulk with fillers of various kinds. Though the military made sure they never lacked for sustenance, they couldn't justify their lavish living when so many of their new neighbors were starving daily.

All of them sacrificed something for the sake of the mission. Some more than others.

Such was the expectation when becoming huntresses, and so they didn't anticipate any medals or recognition for their good deeds. They bore their duty in silence with the hope that their examples would change things, if their actions wouldn't.

Maybe it was working, but like plate tectonics, so slowly that no one would notice.

But the thoughts of silence and examples drew Ruby's attention away from the black metal box in the center of the living room, and over to the kitchen where one could always find Weiss. She felt her frown deepen and a low rumble coming from her chest like a growl as she bore witness to her partner, unmoved since that morning.

She was about to make her way to the kitchen, ostensibly for a box of matches but really so that she could talk to the despondent young woman, when Blake sat up and caught her arm.

"Let me take care of it." She sighed and stood up laboriously, crossing the few paces into the kitchen.

She reached around the industrious Penny and into a squeaky drawer, fishing out the rumpled cardboard box, quick as a flash. But before she left that tiny room, she stopped next to Weiss moping at the table.

The white-haired woman leapt back in her seat as the box of matches was thrown on the table in front of her. Her hand shot out, knocking over the cup and its cold, liquid contents. She managed to catch it before it hit the ground, though not before it splattered against the far wall, adding another stain to the already patched wallpaper.

"Blake! What the hell?!"

"You could offer to help, you know." Blake spoke clearly down at the seated girl.

Penny by this time had halted abruptly in her work, unsure of whether to intervene, or clear the obvious blast zone. Thankfully, the only slightly more socially adept Ruby gave her visual clues from the living room, a shake of the head telling her not get involved. This still confused the robotic girl, but she shrugged and went back to chopping, leaving the humans to their eccentricities, but keeping close enough to take notes.

"Help with what? Lighting the fire?" Weiss huffed, using the paper napkin to mop up the spill which was within reach.

"Sure, start with that." Blake sighed heavily as she tossed herself into the opposite chair. "Anything to just get yourself back up and doing something."

"Oh, and what should I do after that? Dust the furniture? Wash the dishes? Clean the bathrooms?"

"Why not?!" Blake growled back at her petulant sarcasm, undeterred but already short on temper after a long day. "Do something, anything at all, because right now sitting around and moping isn't going to do anyone any good, least of all you."

"And it'll do me good to become a housemaid?" The young woman scoffed at the repugnant idea. "I'm supposed to be training to be a huntress, not doing menial labor."

"You mean like what we've been doing?" Weiss stopped, and Blake took a deep breath, careful to remain on the high ground of the argument. "Day-in, day-out for the past week we haven't done anything remotely like what we trained for. So are you saying that it's not worth it? That we're wasting our time by giving these people a place to sleep at night that won't collapse?"

Weiss shifted one leg over the other and stared down at the floor.

"No, I'm sure that the people appreciate it. But that should be the job of public services or some other government agency, not people like us."

"Well guess what? The government isn't doing anything and isn't likely to do so in the near future. So while ideally you might be correct, when have our lives ever been ideal?" Weiss's left eye twitched as old scar tissue tightened in the cold.

"But this isn't our job…"

"Then whose is it? We're being paid for it, in case you haven't noticed. If I had to guess I'd say it was out of Ironwood's own pocket, given the stance Atlas's government continues to have on 'the lower classes'."

"That's…" She hadn't considered who had commissioned them in the first place. If she gave it any thought she would have realized from the start that their tiny contribution would still be a 180˚ shift in policy for the conservative government.

"But even if we weren't being paid to do it I for one would still want to help these people however I could. If that means spending the next few months up here in the frozen peak of the world doing nothing but drudgery, then I would do it gladly. Especially if it means possibly preventing a war." Blake swallowed as she leaned back in her seat and folded her arms over her chest, a chill running through her blood now running how. "I don't know about you, but I don't want to kill anyone again if I don't have to."

"But what am I supposed to do?" Weiss whimpered out, nursing the empty cup in her shaky hands. "I can't even show my face out there without being hunted down like some…" She didn't finish her sentence as Blake looked at her coldly. "I can't do any actual work to help you guys. And don't tell me to be content with puttering about the flat like some kind of housewife while you are all out there actually doing something. That's unfair. No, It's impossible."

"What would you know about impossible? You've spent your whole life trying to break away from the handouts being given to you. You've never had to go without, even now that your father has made Whitley the inheritor. You still have everything you need to survive."

Weiss flinched at the mention of her brother. This was the first time they had spoken of it since she broke the news to them right before they got on the Bullhead away from Beacon. But she didn't have anything else to say against it.

"You've never been in a position like these people have. **I** haven't. When I was young I had my parents looking out for me, and even when I joined the White Fang I had my brothers and sisters to rely upon. We got by with sympathetic donations and whatever we needed to steal to survive." Blake hid her own shame admitting this darker part of her past, but unlike before, Weiss had nothing condemning to say.

"These people… they're stronger than you or me. They are the ones that chose **not** to join the violent movement sweeping among our people. They decided that they would continue to calmly bear the oppression with a smile while their rights were taken away one by one. They worked humiliating jobs without complaint for years, just to prove that we aren't the animals everyone makes us out to be.

"How can we expect to help them if we aren't willing to sacrifice the same? Everyone knows that we need their support, even the bigshots back in Atlas. The difference is that they want to get it by force. There's just so far a people can be pushed before the start to push back."

Weiss continued to remain silent. If she had an answer to that argument she wouldn't be in this situation now. She could condemn the White Fang all she wanted, but in the end, she couldn't deny that the path they were headed down now would inexorably lead there, or perhaps even something far worse.

"I'm tired," Blake rubbed her face with her chapped hands, intuitively feeling the bags under her eyes. "Gods am I tired. But this fatigue is only fleeting. Soon enough we'll be able to rest, but when I do, I want to know that I've given it my all. Because when we return to Vale there's no coming back to do things over. We have to live with what we did, or didn't do."

It was strange for Blake, not only admitting her own failures, but lecturing about morality in the same breath. But who better to give the lesson than one who had made all the mistakes? And who better to be the listener than one who had purposefully shut her ears to anything and everything?

Weiss still didn't know how she was expected to carry on in this situation. It was true that she had never been the one with the cards stacked against her. She had come from her high tower with dreams of flying free without it propping her up. But she had never seen the view from the ground, where the sky was just a mythical place beyond the ceiling owned by skyscrapers. She just didn't know how to start climbing.

Without another word, Blake rose from her seat and walked over into the living room. She handed the box of matches to Ruby and paused as she took them. Blake met her eyes and gave her a reassuring smile before continuing to the narrow staircase.

She flowed around Yang who was coming down the stairs, a damp towel in her hands as she carefully dried her hair. She only registered a slight breeze as they passed one another, and looked up to see an oddly quiet room.

"What'd I miss?"

* * *

A crow watched as the youth traipsed about in the darkness like a ninja. The cloaked teen incapacitated another half-dozen guards with only a handful of whispering strikes, while his partner picked out the layers of hidden traps like they were pastries on a shelf, disposing of them ravenously. No one in the camp was any wiser as their kin fell like flies.

His kin, he reminded himself. He couldn't afford to separate himself from these beasts, because deep down he knew he was one of them. He sent the two youths to do his dirty work, while he lingered behind in conflicted agony.

It probably made him scum, but that was a price he could pay for this end. But he was not idle. He was silently gathering his own courage to do what needed to be done. He had been doing so for the better part of a decade now. This whole operation was the culmination of that, and his first step towards atonement.

When the time came, he would confront the greatest hurdle to their success, his most tenacious regret and meet her head on. It didn't matter if he gave his life in the process. The two teens would do fine on their own. He was not yet old, but he was becoming superfluous. The world would go on fine without him, but he wanted to know that he had left it a better place for those that stayed behind.

That was the difference between himself and his sister. He still held that modicum of care for others. She was right. It would be the death of him.

A blade flashed blue in the moonlight and was seen by those beady black eyes. The crow cocked its head at the sign and glided down from its perch, alighting on the frosted ground with a soft crunch of snow under leather boots.

He looked up to see the second, black-clad teen by his side, curved blade coated in coal to keep it unseen in the light from the mirrorlike snow, and wool coat speckled with white flakes like stars. He met the hollow blackness in the hood where eyes should have been.

The time was fast approaching.

* * *

Weiss looked at herself in the mirror. The cracks in the glass pane ran parallel to the marks on her face, splitting the pale complexion in two. In that fluorescent blue light, she looked even paler than before. Or maybe it was just from being stuck inside for so long. The dark bags under her eyes only added to the disparity.

But it was still her. It would always be her. And to everyone else it would always be a Schnee, a legacy tarnished by time and the actions of a few. History might yet be kind to her family, but she was concerned with the now. She didn't want to live the rest of her life in the shadow of her father, but here on his doorstep it seemed she had no choice.

She had kept the old scar under her eye. She wondered if she would keep the new one, fresh salmon-colored skin running down her forehead through her temple. It would be another reminder of never letting her guard down, another testament to her struggle for independence.

How many more would there be?

How many more would she need before she learned her lessons? How many more until her face was so marred and grotesque that no one, not even her own family would recognize her? Would there ever be enough?

Her fist crashed into the fractured glass, shattering her image and slicing deep into her knuckles. But past those droplets of splattered blood, and the spiderweb scars which broke up that perfect image, it was still her. That pale skin and perfect profile, even in a mirrored fun house would still be Weiss Schnee.

She drew her hand back and stared at it. Deep, clean cuts running rivulets of crimson down her white knuckles and into the waiting basin. There was so much blood she couldn't even recognize her own hand.

She couldn't smash that image of herself no matter how hard she tried. It wasn't fair, but she knew this.

She found the sewing kit she carried everywhere, resting on the sink. She fished around, pulling out a naked razor blade.

There was no single thing she could do to change the way people saw her.

There was only a way to start.

* * *

"Not bad…"

He wasn't sure if she was commenting on the way he dodged her blast, or the sheer quantity of death he had delivered before even being noticed. Judging by the cruel glint in her eye, it could have been both.

"With a few more years, we might have even asked you to join. But did you really think you could take us out so easily?" She crossed her arms in condescension, icy blue eyes looking down upon him as he crouched low to the ground just beyond where the earth was torn asunder.

He held his tongue, not wanting to give his teammates away and not wanting to be baited into attacking, like he was prone to do. He was the one who held the advantage now, the lifeless tents around them silently testifying.

"You think that taking out a few weaklings means you're hot shit? Please, kid. They were nothing compared to me, and even less compared to our leader." She continued to mill about lazily in her minimalistic clothing, unaffected by the motionless cold.

"They were your comrades." He couldn't hold himself any longer, his voice quivering with rage. "How can you dismiss them so casually?"

"They were pawns." She spat the word like a bad taste. "Something you're going to have to learn sooner or later, the strong survive and the weak die. Well," She smirked and unfolded her arms, planting one on her hip. He felt the hairs on his ears stand on end as it seemed she was done gloating. "you'll find out soon enough."

He hopped back as another lightning bolt lit up the night sky and struck the ground where he just was, the ice sublimating into a gaseous vapor which obscured his retreat. She laughed haughtily but followed him through the colorless cloud.

"Running away already? How disappoint-"

A hand reached out through the mist to cut her off mid-jibe. The punch sent her to a knee, but she was quick to pick herself back up. Or rather, she would have, if midway through the movement a felt-wrapped foot hadn't shot out of the same cloud, sending her barreling back over the fire.

He felt himself smirk underneath the borrowed hood as he stepped out of the air and onto the ground. He took back his earlier reluctance, it wouldn't be that hard to make himself fight this royal bitch.

"You little shit…" Across the waning fire she pushed herself back onto her feet. She wiped her hand across her mouth, snagging the dribble of blood coming down. "Didn't your mother ever teach you not to hit a girl?"

He didn't answer. He just shifted his twin daggers into his hands under the pall of his cloak. The smile on her face excited him, promising him an entertaining fight. But the half-crazed predatory glint in her eye made him shy away. It reminded him of why he was here, and the profuse amount of blood already spilled for her capture. This wasn't something he could take lightly.

She saw the young man's hands shift under his shroud, presumably drawing his weapon. She decided she hit a nerve and was unhesitant to hammer upon it.

"What's the matter?" She shifted into a more prepared stance with feet firmly planted on the ground and arms held in tense anticipation at her side. Her ear's twitched as the second intruder hovered just outside of her cognizance. "Someone have mommy issues? Did she go and leave you all alone with a deadbeat dad?"

He wasn't listening anymore as he charged across the camp circle at her, blades held low almost scraping the ground. For once he wished he had a ranged weapon.

She smirked as her provocative remarks appeared to strike true, and the foolhardy youth ran straight at her despite the fire pit planted firmly between them. For all his apparent skills at assassination, he was too quick to anger and too brash to amount to a serious threat to someone like her. She didn't know what her leader saw in the two of them, but it wasn't her place to question.

Everything about her, from her short-cut auburn hair to her unwillingly bestowed power was Raven's to command. Vernal was, and had always been a weapon. But for Raven, she would be so gladly.

And the elements were her weapon as she bent them to her will. The sudden onset of a spring storm blew through the camp and streamed into the dying campfire, waxing it anew and spitting forth orange flames at the charging assassin.

She felt the shock as the young man faltered in his attack and was soon consumed by the flames. She charged in herself immediately afterwards, knowing that the attack was all bark and no bite without the fuel for combustion. The huddled black cloak appeared silhouetted in the flames as she leapt through the blinking embers.

The wakizashi she brandished, a gift from her leader and mentor, struck out at the still smoldering mound of fur like the stinger of a wasp. She had enough control about her to aim for a non-vital area. Her orders had been to take them alive, if possible, and she would never live down the shame if she failed to do just that.

She needn't have worried, for the blade snagged on the empty cloak instead of passing cleanly through it. And as the cape was pulled back like a magician's big reveal, she was confronted only with an abandoned spear planted firmly in the ground, propping up the ruse.

She bit back a curse, but turned on her heel, flicking the furred garment out at her opponent who was about to strike her from behind. He too was snagged on the thick material but seemed to flow around it, second blade already free to engage her as her boots struggled to find footing on the ice.

The dagger skittered off the marginally longer blade, sparks leaping off and dying into the night with the last of the embers. She kicked out at the younger male who was trying to get into her guard, but had to quickly retract her leg as the second blade whizzed dangerously close. With a grunt of effort, she used her height to force her attacker to disengage, and backed off half a pace to take advantage of her superior reach.

But the enemy was undeterred by the obvious inequality, and continued to press her headless of her ranged killing zone. His smaller size and ferocity of attacks made him dangerous at close range, but he still had to get to her first.

She warded him off with the short sword at arm's length held parallel to the ground. He nipped at the bait, knocking the tip back and forth with his knives as he skirted around her defensive stance, but with only a flick of the wrist her sword was back on target, and he had yet to find an opening. Now she had him going at her pace, and had only to hold him off to charge up another attack and subdue him.

Her delaying tactic only lasted a second before he abandoned trying to find a way around, and simply stepped through her guard and her blade. Her mouth hung open for a fraction of a second before her instincts kicked in and she threw herself back. But it was long enough for the bone-handled dagger to score a deep cut in her arm which nearly caused her to drop her precious blade.

"You bastard!" She cried out, the elements shrieking out with her until their voices united and became a roaring crack.

He had to drop his semblance quickly to avoid being atomized by the blindingly hot bolt which seared the very air above his head. In fact, the magnetic field surrounding the artificial lightning was so strong that he was thrown back violently, crashing through two of the unoccupied tents and barreling off into the darkness.

The brunette heaved deeply trying to catch her breath after the last attack. She had complete control of her maiden powers for some time now, but commanding lightning in such quick succession was still draining. She winced as she tried to raise her right arm and felt the severed muscles scream out in protest.

She glared down at the weeping wound with unrestrained disgust before tracing the severed line in her bicep with two left fingers. Static sparks plumed off behind them, closing the cut up with a tingling flash and the smell of burnt flesh which overcame that of lingering ozone.

She transferred the blade into her left and gave it a couple of experimental swings. Not her preference, but she had been trained so that it wouldn't be too much of a burden. Besides, her opponent wouldn't be expecting this ability, and was probably thinking that he had just about won the fight. How wrong he was.

Wherever he was.

She frowned as she approached the collapsed structures, probing them only uncovered her long-dead comrades. There was no trace of the uncloaked youth, nor even any footprints indicating where he had gone. But then she recalled the phenomenon which had cost her mobility of her arm, and she closed her eyes in frustration.

Only she wasn't. She was calming herself down to better read the environment around her. She was the Spring Maiden. She was the patron of new life, and everything living was within her ken.

As she stood stock still in the darkened camp, moonlight seemed to spotlight her as _something_ of consequence began to take place. All around her feet, the perpetual ice sheet began to recede, radiating out from where she stood like a ripple on a quiescent lake. The air above shimmered as the abrupt warmth mingled with the cold. Not too far away, aura spiked at the shock of the approaching bubble.

"Got you."

Compared to harnessing the natural power of electricity, heating things up by a few degrees was a walk in the park. She held out her hand and the universally expanding heat bubble was concentrated in a column, projected out in the direction of the aura flare.

It wasn't so much like a burning sensation when the first tendrils of hot air reached him. In fact, it almost tickled. Tickled, like an unreachable itch running down the tract of his windpipe. Then it was like tearing, but tearing not of flesh from flesh, but muscle from bone, matter from mind.

And then in one swift movement that coincided with the clenching of her fist, he was forced out of his suspended state and onto the still snow-covered ground, reeling from the lingering pain in his chest that felt like his heart was trying to leap out of it.

Repaying his action, she gave him no time to recuperate and was on top of him before he could so much as glance up. He still managed to parry the wakizashi which tried to pin him to the ground, but could do nothing for the boot which smacked across his masked face. He couldn't see anything as his face was buried into the snow. His head was still spinning when he rolled over in time to avoid a curb-stomp meant to drive him into unconsciousness.

He wasn't even fully awake when he threw himself off the ground and engaged the violent woman in another close-quarters blade-fight. He just let his instinct guide his hands and his blades, repetitious form being drilled into his body which was a clean slate, and soaked up muscle memory like the savory taste of Ramen he was genetically geared to enjoy.

Their blades struck ferociously at one another, animal against animal as the fight returned to a primordial bout deciding the fate of the world. The hot air danced and swirled around the two like a typhoon, melting snow lifted into the air only to rain back down on the fighters and mingle along with sweat on their concentrated brows.

They were one in the same phenomena on that earthly plain. But they would always be fundamentally different, as one strove to rip off the veneer of humanity, and the other tried desperately to realize it.

He pinned her blade between both of his and suddenly realized he had been forced into a ring. The bubble of warmth a stage of her choosing. She had already managed to understand his Semblance and find a counter. He mentally ran through the eventualities as he struggled against the standstill. She must have seen the realization in his eyes, because she allowed her vanishing smirk to show itself once again.

"Finally figuring it out, brat?" She yelled above the now roaring wind. "You're no match for me. I have you right where I want you. Give up now and I might even spare your life."

He scoffed and snuck out a low kick towards her left leg which was trembling just slightly more than the other. Her smirk grew in turn as her knee shot up to intercept and she pressed down on his now unbalanced form with her superior weight.

Suddenly realizing his mistake, he dropped to the ground suddenly and shot forward, skating across the slick, muddy surface and between the widely spaced legs of his opponent. The woman faltered at the audacity of the move, but had little time to protest as she was kicked in the rear and sent sprawling, ass over tea-kettle.

She spun on her right elbow pivoting in the mud and swung wildly with her sword, warding off the young man trying to get a jump on her.

"You insignificant little twat!" She spat a wad of muck out of her mouth, and with her right arm hurled a glob at the assassin who just cocked his head to the side and avoided the wet projectile.

"Now you've done it," She muttered staggering to her feet. "I was going to be nice and let you live. But now? Now I'm going to **make** you live. Make you watch as I carve up your little girlfriend in front of you."

He froze in his cautious approach, cold sweat mingling with the mud running down his back. He had assumed she had just been bluffing about knowing who he was and why he was here. But not only was he evidently compromised, all of his friends were by virtue of being associated with him.

Too late, he realized they had been foolishly eager.

She saw the hitch in his step and smiled in victory behind her mud mask.

"Surprised? Of course I know about Raven's daughter. Was she the one who put you up to this, or was this your own little romantic notion?"

He almost let out a breath of relief when she began going off on an unconverging tangent. But he refrained, as new questions popped up in place of the old, further clouding his own grasp of the situation.

He fiddled with the knives in his hands as he considered what to do next. The plan was still to capture her alive and hopefully find the relic with her assistance. The need for information only furthered this plan of action. The only question was if he was still up to the task.

"You think I care if she finds out I killed her?" She saw him play with his knives and assumed he was considering betraying her to her leader. "Hell, I bet she'd thank me. I know she has a soft spot for that blonde bimbo. And if there is one thing she's taught me, it's that those kinds of weaknesses aren't something we can afford in this world."

There was only one way to find out.

He wasn't going to allow her any more words, he needed to end this as soon as possible. Shifting his blades into reverse grip, he dug his heels into the soft ground and crouched down, acting on a thought made in the spur of a moment. Surely Qrow wouldn't mind if she was missing a limb or two.

She sensed an immanent building of energy coming from her masked enemy and immediately rose to action, gathering her own dynamism into the shell behind her, using the dense, moist air like a capacitor.

Both energies were released at once. Twin blades of cold wind like liquid steel flew at the Maidan as a bolt traveling at a fraction the speed of light struck down from the bubble's ceiling on top of him.

She threw herself to the side just as the crossing blades tore up the earth besides her and shaved a few hairs from her head. Her weapon was caught in the passing, though, and the top third was neatly sheared from the grip.

He was not so lucky.

Once again, the bolt missed him only by a small margin, the speed of electricity still greater than he could currently hope to surpass. And like last time, he was close enough to be severely affected by the magnetic field which spiraled around the current and blasted him back into the stormfront wall.

Rather than stop him completely, the dense lens refracted his path, hurtling him back towards the earth which had re-solidified in the sub-zero temperatures. He bounced only once before rolling along the ground, sliding to a halt in a crunch of broken ice and bones. Still, he struggled to pick himself back up, Aura already kicking in to heal what it could.

But as soon as he turned over on his back, a heavy foot pressed down on his windpipe.

"Dang… so close." She looked at her broken blade in pity before turning her cold blue gaze at him and sneering. "Life isn't fair, is it?" She ground the toe of her boot further up into his neck under his chin, cutting off any response that might have been forming. "Well, you did break my sword, something precious to me. I really should take something of equal value from you, but I'm feeling generous."

She raised the cleanly severed hilt above her head, the remaining third cut as straight as a guillotine.

"I'll just settle for your life, instead."

Before she could make so much as a twitch towards claiming her prize, a shadow descended on the two of them against the light of the moon. She saw the reflection of the shadowed figure in his eyes just before the blade struck, and she lashed out with the broken hilt for defense.

The paltry weapon saved her head from being severed, but it was knocked far out of her grasp and she was left completely exposed as the blunt end of the curved blade snapped back and bit her in the face. She stumbled backwards, releasing him from under her heal.

A black gloved hand reached down, offering him help up which he gratefully accepted. No words were spoken between the two of them as they turned from each other and back against the battered woman.

She snarled at them with pearly white teeth stained a muddy burgundy from her bleeding lip. They both started to slowly flank her with weapons drawn, twin knives like fangs and a scorpion tail of a blade on either side.

"Two on one?" She chuckled darkly while quietly as possible she gathered her powers. "That hardly seems fair."

"Hmm." The newcomer harrumphed with a familiar contempt, and she felt his dark-hued eyes stare down at her beleaguered form. "I would have thought that someone like you would have known by now…"

She took a step back as the two drew ever nearer, but in that simple movement, a foreboding feeling was revealed as she crossed paths with another new presence. A darkly powerful, but oddly familiar sensation which loomed just over her shoulder.

"…life is never fair, kid."

* * *

"Finally." Yang flopped backwards on a pile of waiting lumber, wiping her brow and throwing the snow shovel down disgustedly. Using _Ember Celica_ would have been easier, but according to her team, also a waste of good dust and a provocation they didn't need.

It had taken the better part of the morning, but team RWBY with the help of sympathetic townsfolk had managed to clear the remaining parcels of their recent snowfall. The hope was to have the last three families moved in by the end of that day, but with the short daylight they had available to them it wasn't looking likely. Just prepping the foundations had exhausted them, and they reluctantly agreed to break for lunch now rather than interrupt work later. It would take a concentrated effort, but if they devoted every last minute of the remaining workday, they might just meet their goal.

But they couldn't get anything done without fuel to burn, and in their haste to leave that morning they had neglected to take their prepared lunch with them. Food wasn't a problem for the robotic girl, and so she volunteered to fetch something. Of course they had also forgotten to check on their fourth member, who had been even more aloof than usual since her talking to from Blake. They hadn't even seen her when they got up that morning.

"Here you go." The three recovering huntresses looked up from their individual breaks to see two, neatly bundled parcels set down on the hub of an obsolete crane.

"Awesome! That was fast, thanks Penn-!" Ruby's cry of elation was cut short as she realized that this was **not** the person she had been expecting. The lack of hair and bulky orange coat made that obvious. The stranger turned and blinked confusedly at the suddenly mortified girl.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, I took you for someone else. I don't think we've met mister-er-miss-uh…brother?" Ruby struggled with her apology, stabbing wildly at the person's identity and wildly missing the mark when she guessed 'monk'.

The look of confusion on the large, yet oddly familiar faced morphed before their eyes into a smile, as if happy at being unknown to the three. But that was before their team captain started guessing at the proper way to address the stranger, and their face fell into a look of furious disbelief. They opened their mouth to unleash a harangue like no other.

"Sorry I am late everyone!" Just then Penny showed up from the far end of the construction site, several paper cartons perfectly balanced on one hand as she approached the motley group with an oblivious greeting.

"I couldn't find the meal that I had prepared last night in the kitchen, so I had to stop by the canteen and purchase other sustenance." She set down the too-tall stack of takeout right next to the other parcel brought by the stranger who Penny had just interrupted and continued to overlook.

She noticed the other stack of food before the person, blinking owlishly in surprise before her gaze shifted upwards. The look of confusion continued for only another fraction of a beat before her normally unflappable smile overcame the illogical situation.

"Good morning Weiss! So glad that you could join us!"

The other three huntresses looked at the cherry-faced and hairless young woman with disbelieving looks of scrutiny. Ruby even took out a group picture and held it up for comparison. It wasn't until the woman's icy-blue eye started to twitch dangerously that any of them made the leap of faith.

"I like what you have done with your hair." Penny quipped cheerily.

"EEH-!"

"Don't you dare!"

A collective expression of shock was cut short as Weiss held out a single accusatory finger to her shocked teammates. They all stopped cold with the look of fear being sent their way.

Weiss sighed and let the anger slip away in favor of a little observed humility.

"Look, I know I have been acting a little… childish as of late. And for that, I want to apologize." She looked at Blake who was immediately ensnared by the uncluttered visage. "Especially to you, Blake. I know we've been through this before, but I just want to let you know that I'm _starting_ to understand and appreciate what the Faunus have been through."

The dark-haired woman nodded appreciatively but remained silent. Weiss continued.

"I'll never fully understand, of course. But I should take what examples you've shown me and put it to good use. I know I'm not well liked here." They each took cautious looks around at the Faunus workers who were watching the gathering with suspicion, but Weiss continued to ignore them. "That's no excuse for not helping you though. It's no excuse for not helping them. I wanted to be a huntress to prove that I'm not like my father, but I didn't understand what it meant to do that.

"It means that I have to go outside my comfort zone. Do what I know is right in spite of, not despite the obstacles against me." She looked past the four to the townsfolk who had apparently caught on and were shooting dower looks in her direction before turning back to her friends. "In the future, no matter what I'll stand by you guys." _Like you do for me._

While the other three held in cascades of tears at the heart wrenching scene in front of them, Blake just smirked and sauntered up to the formerly white-haired girl who was kicking her booted feet in the mud, waiting for confirmation. She placed a hand on the woman's new coat and she looked up.

"What took you so long?" Weiss smiled back softly.

"Sorry, I had to stop and drop some things off… and get some 'new' clothes."

She scratched her arms in what looked like embarrassment. But it was just the wool coat she had on which itched like crazy. The saffron-colored and threadbare garment she had exchanged for her usual, pristine designer coat which was hopefully keeping someone in the community warm. It went a long way to Ruby's confusing her with a monk, and it didn't help that the rest of her outfit had also seen a downgrade.

"And… the hair?" Ruby poked her head over Blake's shoulder. The woman rolled her eyes and caught her childish leader by the ear. Amidst pained cries, Weiss managed a small smile as she explained.

"Well, I guess I went a little… overboard with that." She answered, not admitting the darker thoughts she'd entertained with razor in hand. "It's just, I realized that my appearance is what caused a lot of the animosity directed towards me here. Just as it does outside of here." She realized now just how hard it was to pretend to be something you weren't, and thus just how hard Faunus really had it.

"And while I can't change the fact that I'm human, I **can** change how I look." Of course, there were even more drastic things she could do. More drastic things individuals of the Faunus species **had** done in order to remain anonymous. She just hoped it was enough to convince some of the more die-hard of her detractors.

Of course, she would find out soon enough, as the leader of her opposition approached swiftly from an alley leading to the main street.

"Schnee." She sneered as she walked up to the student team who gathered around their comrade to head off any potential confrontation. The aging woman stopped just in front of the defiant Weiss who stood unmoved. "I thought I told you that you weren't welcome here."

"Madame Vashmont," She inclined her head in deference to her elder who looked ready to gore Weiss with her horns. "You did indeed make that clear. However, I don't need to be welcome in order to do my duty."

"You're here for **our** benefit girl. And right now, the best thing you could do for us is to leave."

"And my friends?"

"They can stay, and finish the task they started."

"Then I will stay too and help them to help you."

"Now listen here, girl-"

"With all due respect ma'am, I will not."

As the argument grew more heated, they attracted more and more attention. Soon the construction site was surrounded by curious onlookers who waded into the ankle-deep mud to see what their leader was doing to do with the obstinate Schnee. Weiss ignored them, and focused all of her restrained determination at the weathered face which was staring down at her.

"I have listened and abided by everything you have told me since the minute I set foot in your town. And by doing so, I ignored my duty not only to my superior, not only to my teammates who could have used my help, but to myself as well. I decided to become a huntress to prove to everyone that I was different than my father. But by doing so I also took an oath to help people in need, _whether they like it or not._ "

Weiss's words were not above a respectful volume, but they rang out over the icy yard, through the silent crowds and into the thick woodlands beyond.

"You Schnee are all the same." The graying woman's voice was equally icy, and made the huntresses flinch. "No, you humans are the same. You strut around as if you have all the answers. You condemn our race as inferior, yet the history of humanity is nothing but a recap of past mistakes. What gives you the gal to think that what are doing is the right thing by us?"

"Because I **have** made mistakes and I'm trying to learn from them." Weiss clenched her gloveless fist, blue fingers turning red as she thought back on how many lives her mistakes had cost. "I'm just asking for a chance to try and make things right."

"By what? By giving away a few clothes? By getting a haircut?" Weiss felt her cheeks heat up, but bore the embarrassment with as much quiet dignity as she could muster. That was her intention, after all. To show that she was not shallowly concerned with appearance, and that she could in fact could swallow her inherited pride. "You think one little change can undo generations of hatred against our kind from your people?"

"I'm not trying to undo human history," She flexed her fingers that were going numb. "I'm just trying to fix my own. Please," She let go of the tension she had been holding and bowed her head, exposing the clumsily shaven back of her neck to the esteemed village elder. An instinctual sign of submission, no matter what the language. "please just let me do my job."

There was a brief moment in which all the observers wondered if the old woman was going to reach out and snap that petit neck like a twig, given so perfect an opportunity. Had she known, she would have scoffed at them. She had not aged so gracefully without learning restraint. Not that the thought _hadn't_ crossed her mind.

But the seconds passed in which nothing happened. Seconds past in which the cold wind tickled the back of Weiss's neck and made her realize for the first time just how much she truly missed having her hair. The woman's voice, now wearier than any of team RWBY now felt, relieved her from her genuflect.

"One week," Weiss looked up to see the woman turned away from her. "Ten days. Do you think that in those ten days you can compensate for a single lifetime of mistreatment?"

"Ma'am," The young woman felt a smile worm its way onto her face, more optimistic than even the one her teammate had elicited. "I can start."

"Then best get to it, you're wasting daylight." She cast the remark behind her as she walked through the stunned crowd that parted for her. She then stopped and turned around. "Oh, and get a hat to hide that hideous head of yours for goodness sake."

Weiss's smile never left as she nodded to the venerable woman and turned around to face the task at hand. Drawing a concentrated breath, she flexed her Aura for the first time in days. An instant later the stack of wood Yang had been reposing on shot up into the air, white glyphs around their midsection. They flew over to their proper positions which had already been marked out in chalk, and with little extra effort were sunk deep into the ground.

The crossbeams followed shortly after and adhered to the vertical columns with equally-sized black glyphs. Nodding to herself, Weiss walked over to where her captain stood continually gob smacked. Giving her leader a simple smile and a nod, she reached past her and grabbed the hammer and nails before turning back to her work.

The other four watched her before Yang sighed and began to roll her sleeves up once again. She was stopped by Blake, though, who shook her head and pointed to their formerly-gloomy teammate.

"Look." She urged. Yang did, and saw the intense look of determination on the sheltered girl's face. And, dare she say, contentment?

"Come on, let's get some food and _then_ go help her." They turned back to see both the meal that Weiss had delivered alongside the plethora of food Penny had brought in addition. They pondered over what to do with the excess before they noticed the other workers standing about watching the young woman work, afraid to get in her way.

"Well, at least it won't go to waste."

They called the other Faunus over to share in their repast. For the hard work they had done continually over the past week and for a lifetime, they had earned it. They all ate ravenously while Weiss toiled away. Sometimes they would wince if the woman happened to injure herself because of a novice mistake. But then they would see her work out her frustrations, and dive back into the task with renewed vigor.

Soon enough they would be back at it too.

* * *

He only had a second to realize what was happening before all their hard efforts that night would be lost. A half-crazed smirk, a depraved wink of the eye from the woman and Qrow shot forward. Jamming two fingers into her mouth, he had to bite back his own cry of pain as she bit down hard enough to cut flesh down to bone.

"Please refrain from doing that." The man bit out as his captive gagged on the offending digits. His two accomplices watched from behind him with looks of shock and scrutiny.

"If I remove my hand, can you promise me that you won't try to bite your tongue off again?" Blue eyes like lightning bolts trying to fry him was the only response he received. He would have liked to keep them there a little bit longer, make the woman deal with gouge she just put in his hand and suffer the blood trying to drown her. But he had little choice in the matter. They needed questions answered, and they needed them now.

She coughed and choked and spat when he pulled his hand back. He turned abruptly on his heel while clamping down on the injured appendage. He nodded sharply to Sasuke to take over as he stomped off to find a bandage and work off a little pent up frustration.

The dark-haired boy reluctantly approached the formerly dangerous woman now bound to a tree and further restrained with Aura-suppressing cuffs. He took a knee in front of her as she glowered at him.

"Your name is Vernal." He stated evenly, as if reciting a recipe. "You're the Spring Maiden. You have possession of the relic entrusted to you." She growled deeply like a caged animal but didn't respond. "These are things we already know."

"So I bet you want to know where I hid it, huh?" She smirked, baring her teeth. It didn't faze Sasuke in the least. He had seen much worse.

"If you feel like telling me." He shrugged nonchalantly. She spat a wad of blood in his face and it dribbled down his nose from his forehead.

"What do you think?"

"I think…" Sasuke began as he carefully wiped the spittle from his face, not showing any visible sign of agitation. "…that I have many other questions I'd like to get answered. Since you're being difficult I'm going to focus on the most important one. Now, we can do this the easy way or-"

"-Or what, the hard way?" She laughed at him but choked on some blood that made it down the wrong pipe. "In case you haven't noticed," She wheezed out, "I'm prepared to die for my leader. Nothing you say to me can make me betray her, so you're just wasting your time."

"No," Sasuke said patiently. "Wasting our time would be to come all the way here and have you kill yourself. We went through a lot of effort to take you alive, so it isn't that much more to make sure we get what we need. So rest assured, we can be here a **long** time if that's what you want." The woman found herself falter slightly at the callous way this mere teen was addressing her, staring at her like she was already a corpse.

"Now, that isn't what I want, so why don't you just make this easy on the both of us and answer my question?"

Sasuke leaned into her face, so close their foreheads were almost touching. He reached out and grabbed her, making sure she couldn't turn away, as his thumb peeled her eyelid wide open. Vernal was breathing hard at the sudden aggressive motion and the feeling of helplessness that came when staring point-blank into the young man's eyes.

She had seen some fearful things, strange things in her short time alive. There were people that even made her leader look like a child, and those were some of the people they were running from. But this man, this boy, he had eyes like them. The moment she locked on to those bleak stain glass windows of crimson and black, she knew that she would have fallen to her knees and begged for forgiveness.

"Now tell me: where the hell is Raven?"

* * *

 **Addendum: you can tell how messed up I am because I forgot the scene breaks first time around. Also, little note: Vashmont is like French for "Totally". Literally, it translates to something like "Cow-ly". Just for a giggle.**


	13. What the Fuck Style

**I expect to be dead, in which case this is my obituary.**

* * *

If looks could kill, Qrow would have long since been dead, eviscerated and buried. They couldn't, of course, but the one he was receiving now did not make him want to test that assumption.

"Why the hell didn't you tell me?!"

He wondered if a little bit of the demon didn't still linger in that blond-haired teen who pinned him to a tree by his lapels. The icy-blue eyes nailed him to a cross, unable to move under the weight of guilt he bore.

"Huh?! Answer me! What else are you hiding, you miserable old man?!"

But that was the burden he chose to bear, and he regretted nothing.

"Enough, Naruto. Let him go."

Sasuke's firm voice came to his rescue even as he felt his collarbone start to groan under the pressure. He couldn't honestly say if he would be able to survive the young man's ire if left unchecked. He wasn't sure that he wanted to.

"I took precautions." Qrow forced out, heedless of the reprieve he was being offered. The soul-crushing anger returned full-force.

"Precautions?!" Naruto roared out, aura sending electric pulses which made their hairs stand on end. "You used your own niece as bait! You knew that Raven was going after her, and that she wouldn't be here!" He couldn't bare to meet the older man's mournful gaze any longer, and he lost control over his body which rigidly shook in the throws of abject rage. "You used us. You used me…"

"And if I did?"

Before Sasuke could break the two apart, Qrow reasserted himself and began to push back against the smaller body.

"What do you care? What happened to that willingness to sacrifice yourself? Are you going to take that back now? You think Ruby isn't willing to do the same?"

Naruto's head whipped back up at the mere mention of her name. How dare he use her against him?

Qrow admittedly felt some pity for what he knowingly subjected them to. But he was still convinced that what they did, what he had them do, was the right course of action.

"New flash for you, kid. Ruby chose on her own long ago to become a huntress. Me and her dad made sure she knew what she was getting into before we went too far in her training. She might seem like an innocent little brat, but she's seen loss, too. Don't think you're the only one to lose something." He spat the last part out, countering the condemning look with one of his own.

"That's…not the point." Naruto struggled to find his words. How did he explain this vicarious guilt he felt? It technically wasn't 'him' that sidled his friend with that burden. But sometimes, it was, when he could remember. Either way, he was still dependent on her, and she on him. No matter how he looked at it, that association always painted a target on both of their backs.

Qrow knew what the young man must be going through. He couldn't say he understood, but he wouldn't say that he didn't empathize, either. But he was the salty veteran, he was the one that needed to provide these kids with a reality check to soften the blow when life hit them with all the weight of the world.

"Then what _is_ the point?" Qrow was able to reach up and bat away Naruto's suddenly limp arms from his neck. "Life is a series of compromises and sacrifices. You don't often get the chance to choose what to give up, life takes what it needs to go on. You can't deny that this mission was a necessary one. And besides, what would you have me do? Lock Ruby up like some sort of princess in a castle?" Naruto still fixed the man with a teeth-baring glare, but couldn't unclench his jaw to form a denial. That wasn't a life he could imagine living, and thus something he couldn't dream of condemning someone else.

"And how well do you think that would work anyway?" Qrow barked a laugh as he tried futilely to straighten his collar. "Those girls never were good at doing what they were told. Kind of like a certain someone, huh?"

Naruto resisted the grin that wanted to break free. There was still a lot of dissatisfaction that he couldn't yet subdue.

"We have to help her."

"I told you, I took precautions. She's got both the android and the general looking out for her up there."

It was a drop in the bucket, but it did make him feel a little bit better. But he still wouldn't feel satisfied until he was by her side in this time of need. It wasn't that he doubted the young woman's capabilities. Far from it. She was the one who had the fox, now. And though it was that very fact which trained the crosshairs on her back, it was also the strongest shield she could have possibly possessed.

No, it wasn't doubt. It was an impossible feeling to describe. It was as if the other half of his body was hidden behind a black curtain, and he just had to trust that whatever operation being administered on the other side wouldn't leave him crippled for life. He needed to toss back that shroud and see if he was still whole.

"We need to at least check on her, warn her." Naruto insisted. "Is there any way to contact them?"

"From what we heard, the CCT in Mistral is still limited in its range." Sasuke chimed in, seeing that most of the danger appeared to be averted. "It's having trouble routing signals from this far away, especially with the mountains causing interference. Even if we were to make the call directly from the tower, there's no guarantee that our message would be able to reach the Faunus enclave." The young man looked up through the trees at the stars overhead, as if looking for a smoke signal on the horizon. "If we take the trouble to head all the way back to Haven, we might as well fly to Atlas ourselves."

Naruto liked that idea, though Qrow was less than satisfied.

"You're forgetting something." He admonished the two. "We still have a prisoner that we have to deal with, and I'm not going to hand her over to Mistral authorities." The rosy hue which had slowly been returning to the man's face suddenly evaporated as he came to a startling realization. "Uh… which one of you guys is watching the prisoner?"

The two went ridged but didn't answer. A split second later the three of them bolted back to the tree they had left the Spring Maiden tied to, flared Aura excising three deep gouges like claw marks in the snow. They arrived just in time.

The young woman flicked her tortured gaze to their approach, a silent plea on her swollen lips.

The other figure standing over her perked up as well, that familiar face shining them a pleasant greeting as she cocked her head to the side coquettishly.

They only had a second to come to terms with the non-sequitur presented to them. The innocently wide, contrasting eyes diverged cruelly, and her hand drew the paper-thin blade across Vernal's neck. The dichromatic girl finished the simple stroke with a dramatic flourish, faking a bow as if she had just concluded the overture to her masterpiece symphony.

The audience remained stunned to silence as the finale hung there in the still night air for yet another second, shocked disbelief still etched on the victim's face. Then the waterfall of blood swept forth from the half-moon gouge on her neck and the three of them broke from their debilitating upset to charge at the female assassin.

Naruto was the fastest, but before even he came within claw's reach of her, Neapolitan disappeared, falling backwards into a cascade of snowflakes which fell upwards to become one with the stars.

Sasuke and Qrow bolted to Vernal's side, quickly cutting her free and laying her on her back. Qrow rummaged to hand the young man the medical supplies he had just used on himself. At the same time, Sasuke attempted desperately to gauge the severity of the wound, but the sheer quantity of dark red liquid made it impossible to see anything, and his hands fumbled uselessly among the slick darkness.

Viral made several wet, garbled gasps which brought forth only more spurts of blood bubbling from her mouth and neck. Her own hands searched blindly as the rest of her body went into convulsions, making it all the more difficult to treat her.

But it was too late, anyway. They all knew it. And despite just previously being enemies, the only thing they could do was stay by her side as the last of her bodily fluid flowed forth into steaming pools on their clothes and ground.

A finger finally latched on to the clasp of Sasuke's all but ruined cape, before it's strings were cut, and the arm fell limp by her side.

The three of them stayed there, unable to move, unable to speak. Naruto just stared at his empty hands, and the empty footprints Neo left to make sure it wasn't simply a nightmare. Sasuke kneeled with the corpse in his lap, transfixed on the wide-eyed stare and the blemishes he helped put on her pretty face, now a permanent part of the visage.

And Qrow stood present over all of this, but wishing he was in fact elsewhere. Unable to offer any words of consolation. He had hoped the young men would learn the realities of the world, but not in this way. This abject failure was perhaps even too much for someone decades older to bear. Yet they would have to. He would have to, as he had done too many times before. And he would also have to carry himself with strength and a straight face, find those words to help them carry on.

He swallowed the stone in his throat.

"Well… we should go." No one moved.

"At least, maybe, the journey back won't be so long now."

But in those hours of silence back to Mistral, he was dead wrong.

* * *

"Gotta pee!"

She had avoided it for as long as possible. She really had. The dry cold helped a lot, but sadly, bodily functions set hard limits that couldn't be crossed. That, and she really didn't feel like wetting herself in this climate, that was just asking for trouble.

So before anyone realized it, she had bolted from the nearly-completed frameworks and into the thick forest which encompassed the whole town. There weren't that many to take notice her flight either. Most workers had already gone home this late in the day, including most of her team. Weiss had worked herself into the ground to the point where she had to be carried back to the flat just minutes before.

Why couldn't they have had porto-potties on site? Most of the waste would have been frozen solid anyway. Maybe Ruby could have asked one of the neighbors politely if she could use theirs, but that was just one shred more patience than she had right now with the sudden onset of bladder-bursting pain.

The bright glow of flood lights died off quickly as the curtain of trees pulled shut behind her. Despite being only late afternoon It was already dark as night. It only got darker the further she raced into the thick woods. She wasn't scared, though. As Weiss had explained it, the chance of Grimm getting through the fence unnoticed was slim at best. She was far more worried of someone stumbling on her when she was conducting her private business.

She kept going, perhaps farther than she should have, rationality driven away by the urgency of the operation. But she really didn't want anyone finding her, especially Penny.

The robotic girl's devotion had been endearing at first. Even as socially awkward as she was, it was nice having someone even more so around for comparison. And she would be lying if she didn't enjoy the consistency Penny brought to their daily grind, that little patch of immutable joy and unassailable knowledge that they could call upon any time a question needed and answer.

But seriously, she needed some time alone! Penny had been inseparable at every opportunity and had followed her to the bathroom on a few occasions (did androids even have a bladder?). If this was the only chance she was going to get, she was going to make it last for a little while at least.

Mission accomplished, she rode the lofty high that came with the relief of excruciating pain. She strolled out into a small clearing within the midnight colored trees, and gazed up at the stars that were just now fading into view as the dull flame of sunset sank into the west. There was no sound but the hollow groan of the world and the crunch of her footsteps as she waded out into the barren center.

She was the only person in the world, then. The breath that fogged in front of her face was the only one left on Remnant and the heart in her chest the pace setter for the globe as it spun on its axis. For that briefest of moments which lasted an eternity with no clocks keeping time, she could unburden herself from the duties she had been given, and the ones she had taken upon herself.

Those few minutes were the only selfish time she would indulge in. The only time she would allow herself to think of a world that hadn't ended up so complicated and upside-down. One couldn't survive life by second guessing, and she had promised to do so much more than that. More than survive, to fix the world, she had to recognize it for the mess it truly was.

That didn't mean she couldn't enjoy the precious few, perfect little moments like this.

But even the sweetest cookie had the final bite, and then it was gone, and only the honied rush lingered on for little while longer.

She shivered, suddenly noticing the cold in her immobility, and the last rays of the sun ceased heating that part of the world. She shoved her hands in her pockets and buried her nose into the high collar of her coat, content smile on her face as she walked on her own two feet out of the clearing, and back towards were her friends waited.

"You look just like her."

Her booted foot sunk deep and stayed there as the nostalgic words floated crisply over the hard-packed snow. Her breath hitched as she saw the shadow standing parallel with all the others at the edge of the clearing. The red eyes which seemed to glow against the darkness shot fingers of fear which tickled her spine, the image a stereotype of Grimm gouged deep into her subconscious mind.

But it wasn't the familiar eyes that so startled her, it was the face of her sister in which they were mounted. But of course, that dark-haired beauty wasn't her.

"Raven…" Ruby's words carried out on a puff of vapor.

"It's…good to finally meet you, Ruby."

Of course, they hadn't met before. She held the woman's image in a place alongside her mother's, right next to her father. But Ruby knew next to nothing about the biological parent of her sister. She had walked out on her family shortly after Yang's birth, but other than that remained an enigma that held little relevance for her apart from her sister's fixation. What she was doing here, and what she wanted for Ruby remained equally shrouded in mystery.

But one thing she could infer was that her presence wasn't coincidental. Unlike Yang, she was not transfixed on the idea of the woman, and could see the strangeness for what it really was: A reason to exercise caution.

The foot that had move forward in the snow slid back slightly as Ruby tightened her stance defensively, making ready for a quick get away if she had to. But for the moment, she could try and be civil.

"What are you-?"

"You already know why I'm here."

Ruby felt the lump in her throat sink down into her stomach where it carved itself a deep pit. Raven emerged from the darkest depths to approach her, slow footsteps seeming to glide over the snow.

"I'm not here to waste time." She insisted, diverting her course and languidly circling her paralyzed step-daughter. "Neither yours, nor mine."

She kept watching carefully, staying a distance away. Her intention wasn't to alarm. She wanted Ruby, needed her to come willingly. But it was too late for that, and the young huntress had already formed unflattering conclusions regarding her step-mother. Her fingers kept twitching towards _Crescent Rose_ that wasn't there.

"I'm not here to beguile and distract you with lies. I'm not trying to trick you, unlike the ones you so dutifully follow." Her voice was calm and familiar, creating a false-sense of security that sent alarm bells ringing. "No, the truth has been kept from all of you for too long. I let Tai and Qrow raise you how they saw fit, and that was a mistake. They only let the truth be known when it is convenient for them, or when you find out too much."

In contrast, Raven offered the truth to Ruby, and the girl knew it. This is where she would find her inroad. The young huntress had plenty of opportunities to observe adults lying to her, and latched on to this temptation like a forbidden fruit. But still, she couldn't abandon the idealized view of her uncle and father so easily.

"How would you know? Dad was always there for us and so was Uncle Qrow. They didn't abandon us when we needed them most!" Summer Rose would always be her mother, but that didn't absolve Raven from the missed opportunity. How could she trust someone who would run away like that? Her voice crept up in volume without her consent.

"I don't begrudge Tai for how he raised you. I'm sure he did the best he knew how." This slight against her father and uncle sparked a low growl from Ruby's chest that echoed like a Beowulf in the empty forest. "As for how I know…well, I was always there, watching. You see, my semblance allows me to create a portal which I can attach to an individual's Aura that I can follow anywhere in the world. So I was never more than a moment away if you needed me."

"But I did need you!" Ruby cast this verbal arrow which struck Raven and made her falter in her stride. "When Mom died, we all needed you. But you weren't there!" Feelings of abandonment she never knew existed pushed their way to the forefront as the woman in front of her spouted words of caring without showing any emotion.

"There is… a second part to my semblance," Raven plowed on carelessly. She never considered how her absence effected Tai's second daughter, and so didn't question it now. "It allows me to see into a person's future, or possible futures," Being so blatantly brushed off, Ruby found herself becoming impatient. The familiarity with which she spoke upset the girl, angered her. The foreign feeling spread throughout her body like a wildfire, but without a weapon she was captive by the woman's hungry circling.

"From the moment she was born, I looked into Yang's future. In every single case in which she came with me, she died before the age of three."

Ruby had no reason to doubt this plainly spoken word. But the callousness rubbed her the wrong way. And every second it went on was another lashing of sandpaper, a thousand times more abrasive than enduring a lifetime of lies.

"I couldn't let that happen." Raven shook her head. "How could you ask any mother to condemn her child to such a fate?" She parroted the words without feeling. "To stay away was the only option I saw at the time."

"So tell Yang that." Ruby growled, fists clenching by her sides painfully. Once again, Raven ignored her.

"I'm not here to talk about Yang. I'm here to talk about you." She said, without comprehending that the two were inseparable. "I tried looking into your future as well. But it was always cloudy. Even more so, now, after all that has happened."

Ruby's apprehension see-sawed back and forth with her anger as Raven's train of thought circled back around to the matter at hand. There was only one station down that track, and she wanted off.

"I imagine the Demon Fox has something to do with it."

It was like ripping off a big, hairy Band-Aid.

"Yes, I know. How long did it take _you_ to find out? How long do you think Qrow and the others knew before they told you? It took, what, almost a year for you to find out the Uzumaki and Uchiha weren't from this world? Did Ozpin or his cronies **ever** tell you, or did you have to piece things together on your own?"

That was a question. In truth, the memories now were all a blur. Naruto and Sasuke had gone from being trusted comrades, to shadowy assassins, to arch-demigods, and back to incontrovertible personalities seemingly overnight. The one thing they always were, was a constant. One that Ruby didn't know how to live without anymore. They just were. Just as Yang, Weiss, Blake and she would always be team RWBY. There wasn't a future or past where that wasn't true.

But this feeling of truth was at odds with the culture of lies which surrounded everything in their world. She knew the adults still weren't telling them the truth, still keeping important facts from their knowledge. It no longer mattered if it was for altruistic reasons or simple selfishness. The framework of deception grew still, and all it would take is the slightest spark of anger to set it ablaze.

"I'm not going to try to woo you away with sweet words of compassion. Instead, I offer only honesty and the bitter truth of this world."

Ruby remained quiet. She already knew the reality. Her honesty, sincerity and kindness came off as naiveite to most, but it was an unconscious rejection of the status quo which kept Remnant in darkness. She didn't eschew truth, she embraced it and all its thorns. And it was only now that she learned to cultivate it.

"The truth is that the world is cruel, and life is mean, brutish and short. It's a dog-eat-dog world out there, and you better believe that everyone, including Goodwitch and the others is out for themselves. I'm just more open about it. I don't try to hide behind the veneer of care and compassion. It's true, I want you for your power. But I also want to see you succeed because of it. I am not against humanity or the Faunus. I want to see us continue to survive. But only the strongest of us deserve to live and carry the mantel of life forward.

"This artificial world hidden behind the walls of the Kingdoms only breeds greed and complacency. It insures that the weak and corrupt can feed off the strength of others. Allowing these parasites to exist only poisons the world further. You're a smart girl, Ruby. You know this to be true, you've seen it for yourself the way society will tear itself apart at the least provocation."

"No." Ruby denied, dredging from the muck all examples to the contrary. "You're wrong." She shook her head vehemently. Her friends, teams JNPR, CFVY, and all the others were stark counterpoints, selfless in their actions to defend all walks of life. She may have doubted Goodwitch, Qrow, and even Ozpin, but she didn't believe them to be malicious, just misguided.

"Don't be a fool." Instead of her blade, Raven thrust all of her sharpness into her words.

"You're the fool." Ruby's own venom crept up through her tongue, welling up from that bottomless pit in her stomach. "You're alone. You're powerless. That's why you need me, because you can't face your problems on your own!"

They both froze at this declaration, marveling at the audacity and abnormality of the words coming from her mouth. Ruby choked on them once they crawled their way out. She wanted to scrub her tongue clean from the bitter taste. She was losing the battle, and she knew it.

Raven watched as the girl warred with herself. Her own shiver of fear wriggling deep at the base of her spine. Maybe she had pushed too far, too fast.

"You're right. I am alone. But whether you realize it or not, you are too. Do you think your teammates will stick by you once they find out? Do you think the previous host will remain by your side if he has the chance? Maybe Goodwitch and Qrow will stick up for you, but they too want you only for a weapon."

These were all fears she had felt before. She thought she had come to terms with them, but fingers of doubt still clung on by their nails. She still didn't have a good way forward. Confusion and anxiety still surrounded her status as a Jinchuriki. There wasn't anyone who could tell her how to deal with the excess of hate which overflowed the fragile levees and poisoned the reservoir of truth.

"No…"

"Come with me. Together we can be strong." _Lies_

"No."

"Together we can be strong enough to take on all who oppose us, the Kingdoms, Goodwitch, even Salem." _Lies, Lies_

"No."

"I want you to be strong, but not to use you. I want you to be free. Together I want us to be free." _Lies, Lies, Lies_

"No!"

"We can be together, as a family…"

" **NO!** "

Raven couldn't comprehend the depths of the power she sought, and so as Icarus reached for the sun, she too was burned. A tidal wave of crimson Aura crashed over her, smashing her into a tree, pinning her and drowning her with its poignancy.

When at last the flood receded, she collapsed down on all fours on soil barren of snow, heaving for air that was still rife with the smell of sulfur and wet ash. She looked up at her step-daughter, who stood unmoved from the raging storm with her head hung and the lingering traces of foul Aura blanketing her.

"Please… go…" She heard the girl plead. She also heard a second voice that was far more insistent.

But she couldn't go. She knew she had risked almost everything to come all the way up to Atlas. If she were to save whatever remained of her tribe, she needed the power the girl possessed. She doubted she would even make it out of the country without it.

"Ruby… please…" She pulled herself up and stepped cautiously towards the young woman, whose mercuric aura was undulating and shifting as if it were alive. "I don't want to hurt you. I want us to be like Mother and D-"

" **You're not my mother!** "

Years of living on a razor's edge was the only thing that saved Raven from being bisected. She found her Ōkatana staving off a black scythe, the same size and shape as _Crescent Rose_ which appeared out of nowhere. If the ether that made up Grimm could be mutated into a weapon, this would be it. Midnight haft and blade held together by bone-white joists, jutting sharply into a crimson blood groove that ran along its entire face.

As she struggled with the ridiculous pressure of the blade she didn't have enough leeway to gawk at the weapon nor its sudden appearance. All excess attention was reserved for her step-daughter whose ubiquitous red cape billowed out from behind her, 8 parallel tears running up its length with the resulting pieces flailing wildly. Almost like tails.

But they were nothing compared to the blood diamond eyes which shone with adamantine hate and a crazed twinkle.

Something hit her in the stomach knocking her back deeper into the woods. It looked like one of the fabric tails, but she couldn't be sure in the appending haze. This whole situation was upside-down to begin with.

She had enough sense to spawn a portal before she plowed through yet another evergreen. She popped back out at the edge of the clearing, just behind her step-daughter.

But this wasn't Ruby.

This was only a fraction of the powers the demon fox bequeathed her, and yet it treated her like a plaything, just as she feared. But she didn't have to run just yet. There was still a chance, however slim, that she might placate the human side of the hybrid monster in front of her. She didn't have any leeway to mess around, though.

Before the possessed girl could turn around fully, she began firing at her backside. Deliberate shots aimed at different portions of her body, each with a different dust round chambered. She was testing the waters.

Explosions of color pinwheeled off Ruby and she stumbled back a few steps but took no other notice, the stony glare still fixed on Raven. One shot hit her weapon, fracturing it into sparkling black silt which was whisked away in the accompanying gale from the round imbued with wind-dust.

But in the aftermath of gunpowder and smoke, Ruby merely blinked off the barrage and her weapon reformed almost instantaneously. The scythe moved back as she leaned forward, the last Raven saw of her before she disappeared into a cloud of black rose petals.

She ducked down as the blade screeched over her head from behind. She pivoted around and swung down with both hands on her sword against the immutable weight of the nether-scythe. She drew back in another fluid move, leaving the scabbard hanging there, and then thrust at Ruby's exposed stomach right where the seal should be.

It pierced the heavy wool coat like it was paper, and then stopped. Dead. Raven felt all hope of victory leave her.

But before she could teleport away, she was hammered down into the ground by the backside of Ruby's scythe drilling deep into her shoulder, knocking the wind out of her. Her Aura was spread thin, concentrating on the weapon above and the ground below threatening to crush her in between. The frozen earth gave way first, and shattered under her bent-double knees.

She breathlessly threw herself to the side as the checkerboard blade swung upwards through the shattered ground where she once lay. She threw herself backwards, again narrowly missing the blade as it tried nailing her to the ground. She landed back in an unsteady stance, blade quivering as she raised it to her defense.

The possessed Ruby allowed her to catch her breath as she wrenched her weapon from the earth with a flick of the wrist. Then stared at her.

She expected the eyes to be like a Grimm's. In their world, that was the embodiment of hate and anger towards humanity. She knew the sight almost as well as she knew her reflection in the mirror. But this girl, this woman, this beast, was a complete stranger to her. She reloaded with a suite of ice-dust rounds, the only type that appeared effective. She aimed for the head. This wasn't a human any more.

She let loose like there was no tomorrow. Because for her, there probably wasn't if she didn't make it out. Dust was cheap in comparison to her life.

While at first this altered Ruby seemed slow, in both wits and compared to the speedy-girl's semblance. Now it regarded the volley of fire with a keen scrutiny. Like any Grimm that survived long enough, it was learning.

And it was getting faster as it remembered how. Raven's first shot ricocheted off the palpable Aura and off into the trees. The margin of error only increased with each subsequent shot, as the demon-girl skated forward at Raven with increasing velocity.

She abandoned the effort moments before Ruby reached her, the rifle barrels already glowing from the intense volume of fire, any more and she risked warping them. She backflipped out of the way of a waist-high slash, and threw herself back in.

The swings were ferocious and wild, little of the refined technique she had witnessed that day in Patch remained and she should have easily been able to keep up. But it was because they were so wild, so random, and so fast that she was once again pressed on the defensive in a matter of moments. And like before with every other aspect, the strikes only seemed to be increasing in lethality.

If this were the Grimm side of Ruby, she had already gained several decades worth of knowledge in the span of minutes. It wasn't so much that she was learning from the world around her, but relearning how to fight in that body. Raven had no choice but to keep up that same evolutionary pace.

She twirled her body along with the Ōkatana, freeing one of her loose cartridges she kept in reserve. She palmed it, and went back to her duel with the progressively deadly Ruby. Up. Down. Side-step, diagonal. Retreat. Advance. She kept up the fight with increasing amounts excitement and terror building up within her. All she needed was one opening.

She got it as they came together and broke apart. Ruby's Grimm-scythe cocked back farther than usual, and Raven took that centimeter gap and made it a mile. Like a double-tap, she thrust her blade at the pommel of the _New Moon Rose_ , causing Ruby to fumble in her attack with the brazen unexpectedness of the maneuver. Raven herself bounced back just enough to toss the dust-round between them, and with a flick, bisected the copper case down the middle.

Ruby lunged at the backpedaling woman, but was halted as invisible spiderwebs mired her down. It was like walking through an atmosphere of sludge as the 800 grains of lithified gravity-dust exploded throughout the area.

It was Raven's turn to stay her hand for a brief moment of contemplation. Her weapon cocked back, held there as she met the possessed girl's eyes, now more blood than gemstone as rage and instinct took over. In that pause she considered if her plan was worth it. Was it not her duty to put this pitiful creature out of her misery? As a weapon, she still had a life. But as this… monster, she didn't even have that.

Ruby considered her too. Stared at her like a chained dog wondering why its master was leaving. Head cocked to the side in a way that might have been cute, if not for everything else evil and hateful swirling around the scene. The impediment to her movement seemed to take away the continuous drive to maul the woman in front of her, and allowed a little bit of the compassionate girl to break through.

Raven swung her blade, the tip entering a frisbee-sized portal. The disconnected point shot out at the trapped Ruby, gouging a deep wound in her shoulder. She screamed.

The cry was unlike anything she, or anyone had ever heard before. It was a cascade of forgotten genocides, the pain finally released. It wasn't merely blood-curdling, it was every vessel and cell inside the body trying to commit suicide at once. And it caused Raven to hesitate in her follow-up swing.

Until the incensed Ruby shot forward at her, no longer bound by the lingering heavy gravity. Raven renewed her killing conviction. She opened up a larger portal linked to the girl, throwing consecutive slashes through it while putting as much distance as she could between her and the rampaging beast.

Ruby bobbed and weaved between the strikes with a kind of precognition, already knowing where they were going to pass by. Raven realized that she was watching the way her blade stuck through, correlating it with her half of the portal. She twisted the opening in space time with a concentration that was like crossing four pairs of eyes. So that when she lashed out, the cut on the other side appeared at a slight off-angle that was apparently enough to throw the girl off her game.

The new declination scored a direct hit right underneath Ruby's eyes opened wide with surprise, cutting straight through to the other side. For a split-second, Raven choked at the possibility that she killed her step-daughter. She was prepared, even expectant of this outcome, but it still came as a shock.

So, it was perhaps more of a surprise when the girl in front of her blurred out of existence like a magnet passing across an electronic screen.

It was only the minutest of vibrations which keyed her in to the black hands burrowing through the earth towards her. She leapt up just as they broke through and the fists clenched around nothing but air and dirt. A shadow against the newly risen moon swapped her attention there, and her raised sword clashed against an unharmed Ruby descending with the weight of the heavens upon her.

She spawned another portal beneath the two of them, its pair a mirror image which reversed their direction upward, and Raven kicked off the overly-large scythe and skidded to a halt along the ground, taking another handful of potshots at the airborne Ruby now that her weapon was cool enough.

Ruby spun in the air without missing a beat, slapping the rounds out of the air like flies as they came near her. The clearing became enlarged as the stray shots impacted the surrounding woods, lopping down trees all around. Mounds of earth formed at their stumps like tombs, while snowballs and forest fires clashed for dominance.

Ruby touched down and kicked off at Raven as she reloaded. Taking a cautionary step back, she realized her retreat brought her to the new edge of the clearing. She ducked behind a sturdy pine just as the girl reached out to pick at her with her weapon. The tip of the scythe lodged in the solid trunk, and Ruby flung herself off the bent-back haft, kicking at Raven with both legs. The woman drew her sword across herself but was still sent tumbling through the un-melted snow.

Being pushed further back into the tree line suited her just fine, though. It would limit the flexibility of Ruby's speed, and allow her more opportunities for a sneak attack.

Or so she thought. After trying and failing to catch her prey a few times, the demon-girl grew tired of the cat and mouse game and decided to simply bring the roof down over her head. Raven stopped wide-eyed as the black arms formed from Ruby's back and encircled the entire swath of trees in a gigantic embrace, squeezing together and pulling down the lot in one fell swoop.

The sheer destruction was so impressive that she almost didn't escape, the portals she relied upon became a secondary thought. She appeared behind where she thought the girl would be, only to find no Ruby there. This absence immediately put her on guard, which was the only thing that saved her when the black and crimson blade poked out through a tree trunk, nearly goring her.

The splinters pelted her as Ruby torqued her weapon and shattered the ancient plant. The disembodied blade cut out another chunk and then batted it at Raven like a cannonball. Her blade cut through it equally like butter, but in the aftermath with the two pieces falling behind her, she didn't notice when one was replaced.

The symbiotic being that was controlling Ruby was no longer dredging up just the girl's memories. It started delving into the vicarious experiences of its vulpine half, remembering tactics used by the former Jinchurkiki. While it lacked an ability to use the substitution technique, its speed made it all but unnecessary.

Ruby alighted on the half-stump behind her target, totally unnoticed as she swung the infinitely massive weapon.

Raven's Aura just barely managed to keep the blade from tasting her pale flesh, but it did nothing to prevent the blunt force trauma from jarring her organs inside her body as she flew through the air and several more innocent trees.

She picked herself painfully out of the crevasse her body had made, already resigned to make a tactical withdraw. But it seemed Ruby wasn't going to let her run out on what she started. Not this time. The demon-girl was already poised over her, ready to finish the job. Raven looked into her step-daughter's eyes, still in that same losing battle with the hateful shroud of color which hazed over her shimmering silver. Maybe it was a mistake to try to change the girl into something she wasn't.

Ruby knew what she was doing was wrong. But she was so unused to anger that when confronted with it, she had no defense. The Kyuubi was powerful. She already knew this, but had no idea how to combat it. It took control of a part of her mind that was neglected for years, and remained hidden from her psyche. Her conscious mind could only gaze passively as this intractable emotion pulled her strings to its whim.

And she couldn't deny her hatred. She never knew the emotion before, but she hated what Raven had done to her family, and even more what the woman stood for. Those selfish desires which would lead only to continued animosity and destruction.

But wasn't raising a family the ultimate selfish desire? It wasn't the continuation of the species that motivated procreation. It was the validation of an individual, the yearning to pass on a unique bloodline, a name which brought children into the world. In a way… this dispassionate woman was the epitome of fairness in a skewed world view. The only thing that motivated her was power, success. It didn't matter from where. Equal in disdain to the rest of humanity.

That didn't make what she was wanted to do right, though. No matter how much self-centered desires of love or hate ruled her now, right and wrong were consecrated concepts. If only she could summon them to her aid.

Raven was exhausted. The last blow drained most of her Aura. She could spawn another portal, but the only one close enough was attached to her daughter. Not only would that be a bad move on her part, she didn't want to endanger Yang. She doubted in this state if Ruby could even recognize her own sister. Raven needed a moment to gather her wits, gather her strength to latch onto a further signature. A moment she didn't have, but would have to create.

A last handful of dust rounds, the last of her reinforced supply she had raided from the arsenal. She could feel the static charge tingle her fingers as she rubbed them together. Her step-daughter paused, sparing her the guillotine. Maybe she was alive somewhere down there, the benevolent girl giving her one last chance to escape. She would not neglect this gift.

Her sword was too far away, and there wasn't a rock nearby to strike against the primer. She moved her hand to her face, and placed a single round in her mouth. This was going to hurt anyway.

 _Oh, so now you're complaining?_

The voice she had come to associate with the Kyuubi taunted Ruby. But it was a sign of progress as she fought to regain control that she had admittedly acceded in her moment of rage.

 _Why fight? I'll do it for you. I'll fight all your battles against these corrupt humans. You don't have to feel that pain any more._

But that wouldn't be fair to all those who suffered before her, continued to suffer for what they viewed was just, whether they were right or wrong. As much as she wanted to go through life as unextraordinary as everyone else, she had to admit that nothing in life worth doing was easy. It all came with growing pains.

 _But you hate her. Why not let me kill her?_

She doesn't deserve it. She's not worth it. Not worth the feeling of regret and the betrayal it would cause Yang. Besides, hate is like love. They're both selfish, and one can't exist without the other.

 _I am hate girl. I am the embodiment of anger against humans. As long as I continue to exist, I'll continue to fight for your destruction._

That's fine. They'd always be there to stop him.

"Sorry Ruby."

She fought for her hearing just as the words were muttered beneath her. Suddenly glad that her senses were dulled as an electric field exploded and thousands of amps coursed through her body. She knew she was supposed to be feeling pain, but all she registered was a tingling feeling, as in her mind the Grimm Kyuubi reeled in pain and rage. Its previously solid body struggled to maintain its shape as it dissolved and reformed in and out of an amorphous blob.

It had been concentrating too much on maintaining its control over her body that it had weakened its defenses on her mind. It was surprised when her mental avatar opened its eyes and stared it down with those silver eyes filled with damnable determination. In her mind, Ruby ripped the amorphous claw off her head and dropped down to the ground of the familiar chamber.

" _No, not yet! I'm almost there!"_

She saw the creature screech and claw as if struggling to dig itself out of the pit. It leveled its own glare at her, no longer trying to take control of her body as long as she was alive, it was going to deal with her conscious once and for all.

Ruby felt powerful, confident, despite being all but naked in that crystallized chamber once again. She was shrouded in a silver Aura which propped her up and made her feel like there was a whole army behind her. There was. The invisible presence of her friends and family stood shoulder to shoulder in support of her. They would always be there. Even as the Kyuubi gathered its strength in an impossibly dense ball in front of his face, Ruby held no fear as she gathered her own determination to stop whatever it was planning.

The chamber didn't seem like it could possibly contain their two cosmically powerful Auras as they built up. It began to crack when they were released and clashed against one another for dominance. Ruby held on for as long as she could, but in the end, the resulting explosion expelled her from her mind and away from awareness.

Outside in the real world, the night sky lit up with a silver light, like a second moon born from the surface of the Earth.

* * *

The first thing she heard was sobbing. It was like her mother's funeral all over again.

"I'm sorry Yang, I should have been more careful. I should have done something more…"

Only this time, it was hers.

"Ruby! You're awake!"

She was?

"I am?" She struggled to sit up against the tightly-made bedsheets, hand clutching her throbbing head. "I'm… alive?"

"Of course you are, dummy." Yang wiped a stray tear from her eye as she gave a sorrowful laugh. "I'm so glad you're okay."

That remained to be seen. Ruby ran her hands over her body which had been stripped of its heavy winter clothes and redressed in clean underwear which bore none of the stains nor scars from her recent battle. Had that even happened? Or was it a fever dream resulting from whatever put her in bed to begin with?

"What happened?"

"You're supposed to tell **us** that, you dunce." Hearing the commotion, the rest of her team plus Penny crammed themselves into the room she normally shared with just Weiss. "You just ran off into the forest without giving anyone a chance to see where you were going." Weiss chastised, although it was hard to take her seriously with her new haircut. "You screamed something about needing to go to the bathroom, but no one thought they heard you right." Weiss gained a rosy hue to her cheeks as she imagined the childish declaration from her partner.

"…Oops?"

The four of them glared at their captain, including Penny who wasn't too pleased after the redressing she received from the General when he found out what had happened. Although, even now they still didn't really know.

"So what did happen after you disappeared?" Blake asked with curious concern. "We followed the sounds of fighting and found you in the middle of a crater near the fence."

Crater was close, but in truth, there wasn't really a good term for what they saw when they found her. It looked almost like an explosion had gone off. But instead of the usual accompaniment of small forest fires and the lingering smell of sulfur and destruction, the damage that they had encountered seemed frozen in time. And it was cold. Far colder even than the night of the storm. So cold it burned. Being in the epicenter was like being at the end of the universe when everything succumbed to the inevitable heat death and no more movement could be found anywhere. They couldn't spend too much time in it, and even Penny finally admitted to feeling chilled in its midst.

"Crater? Did you happen to find…" She shot a glance at her sister, and was met with only confusion which made it apparent she knew nothing about her mother. So for whatever reason, in a split second she decided to keep it that way. "…Anything else?"

There were a few suspicious glances thrown her way, but most of them were simply relieved that the young woman seemed to be up and aware enough.

"The crater was close enough to the fence that in destroyed a large section between guard towers 13 and 14." Penny related, stowing her own notice of Ruby's slip for the time being. "Though any evidence of penetration was eliminated by what we assume was the blast, it is possible that a large horde of Grimm went unnoticed and breached the perimeter. The recovery team found approximately a dozen Grimm that were… frozen outside the gate." Again, language failed to describe what had happened and Penny remained with a displeased look molded on her face.

"Frozen?"

"It's the only way to describe it." Yang said in a hushed tone. She had been one of the first to seek out her sister and so came upon the unusual scene in the woods outside. "They're just standing there, not disappearing or anything."

Ruby had no idea what to make of any of this. Luckily, she was in the same boat as everyone else. She had a suspicion she knew where to get answers, but that would have to wait until they went back to Beacon. Their mission was open ended as well, and so she had no idea when that could be.

"Nobody was hurt, right?"

"No one but you, Ruby." Yang gave the girl a check on the shoulder which was a little too hard for the sorry state she was in. "So… how many you think you got?" The blonde asked, trying to cover her slip-up.

"Excuse me?"

"Grimm. How many did you manage to take out? The twelve that were stunned were fairly big, it must have been a massive horde."

"Oh, um…" Once again, she had an opportunity to reveal the truth, and again she found herself questioning the merits of lying. "I-I don't know. I wasn't really keeping count…" She couldn't help the words spilling from her mouth, and like the ones conveyed through her with the Kyuubi, these too left a bad taste in her mouth. But could she really tell Yang that her mother tried to abduct her? Maybe she should.

But not now.

"Heh! My little sis, always being so modest." Yang smothered Ruby in a hug that was more like a headlock, ignoring the still-healing cuts and bruises on her battered body.

"Alright, Yang. I think that's enough." Blake came to the rescue, prying the buxom blonde off her sister. Yang protested more than was normal, and it was clear Ruby's condition had affected her more than the others. "She just woke up, and still needs rest."

"-In any case," Penny still had something she needed to get across before they were kicked out. "the situation is being regarded as an anomalous Grimm attack, and for this reason is being handled by the military due to its possible connection to Salem *hic*." The android met Ruby's confused and disturbed stare with cold indifference. "Your efforts in mitigating the Grimm advance before it could reach the settlements is being heralded as a major victory. A great personal as well as political accomplishment."

Ruby knew the robotic girl better than anyone else in the room. She might have had the rest of them fooled, but only so long as Ruby played along. That was why Penny couldn't wait for her to get her bearings. Penny, or rather her handlers, needed to have the story straight before Ruby could go and spill what really happened. The military probably knew the truth, based on the evidence at the scene. In fact, the question now was more what they didn't, rather than did know.

Android and girl met in a stare, the former doing her best to convey a look of pleading. Ruby frowned. She was being asked to lie again. This whole situation was quickly spiraling out of her control, and lies would only become harder and harder to maintain. It was one thing just to defend her sister's peace of mind, it was another to pull the wool over the eyes of thousands of people.

"I-"

"Did a very brave thing." Penny saw what was about to happen, and even though she agreed with Ruby, her orders were to the contrary. "The Faunus Township is very grateful towards you and your team." She nodded to everyone, especially Weiss who looked equally shocked and proud of the information. "In fact, it seems that the attack has convinced many of them that the government's honesty, and no protests are being raised at the presence of military units which have taken up temporary residence within the borders."

Even Blake raised her eyebrows at this information. She had judged the town to be warming up to them, even Weiss who had made significant strides as of late. But never did she think that the attitude would change so drastically overnight. Maybe their combined efforts had payed off. Or maybe the Grimm were finally doing their job as a unifying force.

However, unity brought about through fear wouldn't last. And what would happen after Salem was taken care of remained to be seen.

Ruby found she was disgusted with herself, because after learning what good the charade seemed to be doing, she found she could no longer divest herself of the truth so easily. That wasn't fair. How could the truth feel so heavy, and the liar sleep so sound?

If it was revealed Raven was the one who broke in, all to get at her, what would that do for their efforts? Her presence had unknowingly endangered not only the mission, but the whole Township when she lost control. She had never been afraid of what her teammates would say when they found out about the Kyuubi. But now she was afraid of herself.

"Ruby," Penny silently approached the other side of her bed, laying a cold hand on her shoulder. She flinched at the sudden contact. "You did a great job. Thank you."

The look she gave back was one of hurt and Penny had no idea what to do with it. It confused and upset her. This in turn wounded Ruby even more, knowing that her inner turmoil was leaching outwards and injuring her friends.

It was at this moment that Yang decided to regain some sense of responsibility as an older sister. She saw the disquieted looks the two tried to keep away from the rest of them. She didn't like it, but if her little sister felt the need to keep something from her, then it was probably important.

"All right you guys," Yang gathered them up with a sweep of her arm. "Let's let Rubes get some rest. She's had a hell of a day."

There were muttered agreements, a few more well-wishes and the promise to come back up with food in a little bit. The last brought no joy to the bedridden young woman, for even though she was ravenous, she didn't think she'd be able to keep any food down. Yang was the last one out, and shot Ruby a kindly smile before clicking the door shut. Once again, Ruby found herself alone.

She sighed in the empty room, throwing back the sheets and giving her body a once over. She had only vaguely been aware of what transpired during the fight, but what injuries she'd known about no longer appeared on her immaculate skin. She heaved another sigh and glared down at her flat stomach where the abominable seal grew ever darker. It had gone from looking like a birthmark all throughout the past week, to now, where it was an edgy tattoo of a loosely violent ideology.

"Hey." She tried calling to it, keeping her voice low.

"Hey!" She didn't really want to have anyone barging in on her now, but she felt like she needed to try and contact the demon after all that had happened.

Still, there was no response. She tried projecting a mental thought towards wherever it resided within her. Of course, she didn't know how, but that didn't keep her from repeating the effort another few times, hopefully irritating the beast enough to speak to her. A few minutes passed in the attempt, and still nothing.

She ground her teeth at the unresponsive markings, their sight alone beginning to make her blood boil. It was a risky venture trying to talk with it. She understood that, but sill there was not a peep out of the deranged Fox.

"Darn you!"

She cursed, lashing out at the only part of her ire within reach. She doubled up in bed as her fist impacted her stomach. Rolling over on her side, she gasped for air and eventually started coughing when it finally came back to her.

"Ruby, are you alright in there?" The voice of Weiss called out from out in the hallway. She didn't think that she'd been making that much noise. Maybe she was upstairs to take a shower.

"Fine!" She called out hoarsely, devolving into another coughing fit that no doubt put a frown on the face behind the door.

"Well, okay…" The voice trailed off along with gentle footsteps that led down the creaky staircase.

Ruby collapsed back in bed afterwards. Removing the pillow out from under her head, she brought it to her face and let loose a scream that was muffled by the feathery down. Her muted yell devolved into tears which soaked the already stained cloth cover, the fabric balled up in her clenched fists.

She suddenly drew it down to her chest and started punching the soft material again and again. The elegiac rhythm echoed in the small room, and a distraught mantra whispered along with her sobs.

"Not fine. Not fine. Not fine. Not fine…"


	14. Tu Jesty Fata

**Hey there, I suppose I should apologize for this being late.**

 **But I'm not going to. The truth is that I am feeling increasingly unmotivated. Not just with this story, but writing in general. I said from the start that I wrote mainly for myself, but somewhere along the lines I became irreparably entangled in this electronic social mess. That, in conjunction with personal life matters makes for a very poor writing potion.**

 **Writing is a great stress reliever, don't get me wrong. But I feel myself stagnating. I wanted to continue to write in the hopes that I would get better, but it doesn't really seem to be the case. Maybe I can try again fresh. Maybe I just need a break.**

 **What does it mean for this story? I can't really say at this point. I held up my end of the bargain and did one complete fic, and you can expect at least another two chapters after this one because they're already written. After that... well... my mood is going to have to improve pretty drastically to expand on the ideas in my head being buffeted around by unproductive thoughts.**

 **But still, for the few left, thanks for sticking with me, and I'll try to work myself back up to finishing this once off at the very lest.**

* * *

" _What were you expecting? An all-encompassing answer to our problems? Universal treatise? Divine illumination?"_

"Hardly," Glynda grumbled, fingers massaging her temples pounding like drums. "Just something more substantial than what amounts to blaming it on magic."

The holographic image of General Ironwood shrugged heavily, mimicking the exhaustion on her own face.

" _I'm sorry, but that's what you're going to have to accept. At least for now. You have all the data we do on the samples. It's obvious there's a correlation, and follows that there's also a rational explanation for it as well. But you can't ask for us to rewrite known science overnight. In the absence of a process it can look like magic, but I can assure you that it's not."_

"Sure, now prove to me the rest isn't either." Glynda shook her head and Ironwood slumped down into his chair and leaned his head into his robotic arm.

" _The truth is we really can't. For now, all we have is Ozpin's gods creating the world as we know it. They wrote the rules for us. They might have rules themselves, but they're as of yet a mystery."_

"They throw the dice and leave us to deal with the consequences." She grimaced, trying to remember the taste of something good to rid herself of the sour scowl.

" _At this point, it's better if we just deal with the results, rather than try to explain why."_

"You give me results that say both Naruto's pre-transformation samples and Sasuke's current one's are showing inexplicable, spontaneous decay." Her hands slapped the table, shaking the image of the general, but not the man who could understand her current frustration. "And you expect me to be happy with that?"

" _That is correct, but you don't have to enjoy it."_ He sat up straight and met her eyes. It was the least he could do when delivering the bad news _. "Even on the microscopic scale, we can't find a good reason for it. We ran some backscatter atomic tests and they showed no perceptible difference. Resistivity, radioactivity, Aura capacity, all within normal ranges. But you already expected this, didn't you?"_

"Yes," She admitted. "But I was still holding out hope that you and your resources would be able to find something that I couldn't."

" _I'm sorry."_ He meant it. It was a record, she had never heard the man apologize so much in a single stretch. _"We are dealing with something that is beyond human ability to analyze. All signs point to it being an atomic-level difference, too small for us to see."_

Or, perhaps too large, couldn't see the forest through the trees. And yet, that never stopped them from trying.

Man's reach exceeded his grasp. And Man's grasp exceeded his understanding. Glynda mused dismally on this paradox rather than on the immediate problem, but found even those implications equally troubling.

"So, we can't do anything but wait for him to die?"

" _We'll still keep working."_ Ironwood said sternly _. "We're not going to simply give up. I've got a good portion of my personal R &D on it, and we have been flooded by volunteers who want to study the phenomena. They don't know what they're working on, of course."_ He amended quickly as Glynda lurched forward in her seat.

She let herself fall back into the cushioned velvet before heaving a sigh and running a hand over her weary face, trying not to feel the crow's feet she was sure were worming their way onto her previously unblemished looks. She wasn't half so vain, but it was still hard to ignore time's ravages.

"I'm sorry." She sighed. "I really should let you just do your job."

" _That's alright."_ He assured her. _"It's prudent to ask. We all have to keep one another in check these days. None of us are infallible."_

"Or immortal."

" _True,"_ He chuckled grimly at the bitter shot at Ozpin, who despite his assertion, had yet to reappear to them. It was hard to admit that he wasn't coming back. They both intuitively knew that it was up to them, and perhaps a handful of others, to handle things now. And though they wouldn't admit it, it scared both every day.

"And…" He roused himself from his musings as her quiet voice broke the silence. "what about the… **other** matter?" She tried to control the shaking in her voice with a cough, but gave up as she realized the gesture was useless against that man.

" _Well, the good news is that we can see what is wrong."_ The General picked out some keys on his end, bringing up displays on either side of the connection which showed the same collated information.

"And the bad news?" Her voice was firm and businesslike now. Waiting to ask had been the hardest part. She was used to dealing with bad news, but had a hard time keeping up hope.

" _We're just beginning to analyze it. We still have a long way to go."_ He pulled up another window on both their displays which ran through countless rows of gridded data that looked vaguely like DNA sequencing. _"Our people are convinced that what is happening with Ms. Rose is entirely explainable within our current capacity. But it's still a slow process cataloguing the modified genes and differentiating the human from the Grimm. The only saving grace is that the Grimm part is such a small part of the mutation that we can easily recognize it when we find it. But finding it is like finding a needle in a haystack."_

"So it's just a number-crunching problem then? I though you had enough volunteers?"

" _I'm not letting this data out of the top-secret military circles."_ Glynda's eyes widened momentarily before she understood.

"I see…" Ironwood nodded sternly.

" _It's not a simple matter of confidentiality or propriety. While Naruto and Sasuke's DNA could potentially change our entire concept of the laws of physics and chemistry, Ms. Rose's_ _ **is**_ _changing it, as we speak. As I said, each piece of Grimm DNA is easily recognizable, but it's because we've never seen it before now. I don't want_ _ **anyone**_ _having that information. Not yet."_

Glynda smiled despite the situation. It seemed that the General was beginning to understand that there were things too volatile to hammer into a weapon. She doubted Salem even knew how her powers over the Grimm worked. And if there was some chance she could get ahold of the research and figure it out before them, all would be lost.

"I see you have things handled. My thanks again, General."

" _No need."_ He gave her a sorrowful smile. He wished he could bridge the gap between to comfort the woman he commiserated with so heavily. But he was still not sure on where the two of them stood beyond allies. _"Please take care of yourself."_ He tried being a little friendlier anyway _. "You look like shit."_ … and once again his soldiering mouth betrayed him.

He saw her eye twitch and thought that she was about to reach through the electronic connection and strangle him. He immediately regretted the sarcastic remark and considered severing the call and making a run for the nigh-impenetrable hills around Atlas to hide.

As soon as he began considering if he had time to pack his bags before fleeing, he heard a staticky chortle resonate from the other side of the hologram.

"Yeah, suppose I do." She shook her head and noticed a red flashing button on her desk, indicating she had another call. "You don't look so hot yourself." Her hand hovered above that button. "Take care of yourself, too, alright?"

" _Of course."_ He nodded, and she gave a curt one back before clicking over to the other incoming call.

"Ms. Nikos." She greeted with the same nod she used to dismiss the general. "Status report?"

" _Hello again, Ms. Goodwitch."_ The smiling redhead beamed out at her from the display, the sunny disposition and background making the desk-bound woman blink from the transition _. "Everything is proceeding as good as can be expected. Most of the students have re-occupied the campus and dorms, and most of the maintenance staff have returned once word got out of the bonus incentive you offered."_

Glynda nodded, not lamenting the loss of those funds for such a cause. While she had been busy trying to minimize their economic impact on Vale during the reconstruction, she had not had time to keep up with the deluge of foreign relief efforts, which had raised significant amounts to help get Beacon back on its feet. That surplus wealth would now be put to good use.

She supposed she also owed Qrow for catching that little detail as well, before it slipped into the pockets of Vale's administrators. She couldn't blame the politicians for being corrupt. It was human nature, and at the moment, greed was working to their advantage.

"And Mistral's council?" Pyrrha's immutable smile twisted heavily as she tried to find a good angle to present.

" _Well… there are quite a few of them that aren't too happy about what we're doing, calling it a covert takeover by Vale. But it seems to be balanced out by the others. Or at least, the arguments are delaying any action from being taken."_

"Let's just hope that it does so long enough for them to get up and running again. Speaking of: what's the progress on the teachers?"

The Amazon's smile brightened marginally while her hand made a 'so-so' gesture.

" _Slowly, but surely we're winning them over."_ Her confidence was palpable over the pixilated image. The effort to round up the professors and technical staff was something she could actively contribute to. Her fame made it all the easier to wean help finding them, and her endorsement went a long way as well. It was one of the few enjoyments fame brought her lately.

"Glad to hear it." Glynda's slowly nurtured smile took a leave of absence as she broached the next topic. "And Lionheart?"

" _I'm afraid he cannot be found."_

The headmistress's eyes narrowed. While it was perhaps more convenient for them in the immediate, eventually they would need a new headmaster. She had nothing against the man, and wondered if his exile was self-imposed, or if someone had 'convinced' him to become scarce. Either way, she would have preferred him on their side, however reluctantly.

"I see. I'll begin looking for a replacement." Pyrrha looked mildly troubled by the easily made decision, but did not protest.

"Any news of the other teams?" Glynda ventured tentatively, and the other woman's bright disposition was immediately reignited.

" _Oh, yes! Naruto and Sasuke showed up along with Qrow a few days ago, and we just got a message from team RWBY that they finished as well, and will be stopping by here to lend a hand tomorrow."_

Goodwitch let loose a cautious sigh of relief at the news, hoping that Pyrrha didn't notice her worry. She had been nervous when the two younger teens failed to report in on time, and was only left with a sketchy note from Qrow explaining their absence. She was fine giving the man leeway to do what he thought was necessary, as long as it produced results. That is, as long as he didn't drag anyone else down with him. For his sake, she hoped he had something to show for this little stunt.

"I see. That's good. Well done, Ms. Nikos. You may pass my congratulations on to the rest of your team."

" _Thank you, Ms. Goodwitch."_ Pyrrha gave a shallow bow _. "I will do so. It was really Jaune that managed to put everything together."_

Glynda couldn't help the light snort that made itself known, and she shook her own head in simple acceptance. She would admit that she was wrong about that boy, and might even be strong-armed to admit that she was a little proud of his progress.

Still, he, as well as the rest of them, were just a drop in the bucket fighting the growing fire. She didn't have the heart to tell her that this success was barely keeping them above water, and any slip up would send the world tumbling back into total war.

"Well then, let him know he has my thanks."

" _Will do."_ Pyrrha's smile got even brighter. _"Oh, and Ms. Goodwitch?"_

"Yes?" She asked, curious at the addendum.

" _You really don't look too well. Please take care of yourself?"_

"Goodbye Ms. Nikos."

With that she severed the connection completely and basked in the blanket of silence which she pulled over herself. The room was dark, too, the sun having set long ago during her conversation. What hour was it, anyway? Did she even care?

She sat there for a while, relishing the timelessness and the unhurriedness she could finally afford to appreciate. Then she stood up, growling as her body let out several displeased pops and groans as she lifted herself out of the too-comfortable chair.

She blindly walked around the desk and into the middle of the empty room, the convoluted mechanics turning slowly somewhere above her. She let her eyes become adjusted to the darkness, to the minute presence of stars somewhere outside her window.

Things were going well. As good as they could hope, anyway.

But what did that mean to them, for them?

They meant to make the world a safer place, a better place. But still, it was a difficult concept to grasp for a woman born of its imperfections. What did it mean? A world without Salem, Emerald, or anyone else seeking to create a disparity of power. A time of unity.

They were getting closer to it. At least it seemed like it. Now all they had to do was not backslide in their progress. But the real question was: progress towards what? A society where Humans and Faunus stood united? One without conflict? What would that pinnacle look like, and would they know it when they saw it?

A peaceful world was one where the only struggle was against the internal chains holding each of them back from achieving Nirvana.

But that's what scared her.

A world after war was a world after history, where everything worth noting was already written. A time when people no longer needed gods to tell them what to do. A world where they had killed the gods.

Maybe they already had.

* * *

Pyrrha shook her head in unaffected humor as she was abruptly hung-up on. She pushed back from the public terminal in Mistral's CCT, letting the operator know she had finished. She didn't get up right away, and waited there, staring at her ghostly reflection in the blank screen.

"She does look tired." The woman said, her voice carrying its own weariness. She swiveled around in her seat to face the person behind her too short to be reflected in the screen. "Are you sure you shouldn't go back and take over for her?"

"Yes," She repressed a shiver, still so unused to hearing the slight chorus of voices every time he spoke. "Despite how hard it may be, it is better if I continue to remain known to as few people as possible. As sure as I am that the job is indeed a hard one, I know of no other person more qualified than her right now."

She frowned at the youthful visage she kept trying to assure herself was Ozpin. If it were the headmaster, would he really be this cold? Perhaps death and rebirth had made him more cautious.

"I trust Glynda to do a good job." The possessed Oscar stated as he clasped his hands behind his back and bowed his head in a somber gesture that belied his youthful appearance. "Hopefully better than I did." He snapped out of the somber mood so fast it made Pyrrha question if she had seen it, as he looked at her with a sly smile that once again made her believe the man could read the world.

"In any case, I believe I will be of more use here. It seems we are still short a headmaster, and despite your recent success, you all could do with some training."

As if the statement were a command, Pyrrha stood up from the wooden office chair with a smile and a spring.

"I would very much enjoy that." She said as she fell in with the much shorter man, making their way out of the building. Her smile tilted slightly in the cheek. "That is, if you think you can still keep up."

"Mmm." Ozpin/Oscar hummed obsequiously with the same self-assured smile, his mind elsewhere. "I'm hoping we all can. You say Naruto and Sasuke have arrived?"

"Yes." Pyrrha nodded. "They showed up with Qrow a couple of days ago. Team RWBY is also due in tomorrow evening."

He said nothing, and Oscar was silent as well as he struggled alone to make sense of all the players whom he had only heard of. Ozpin carefully hid his inner thoughts from both during the short walk to the elevator.

Things had changed, far more than he could have guessed in his absence. It was not yet clear if it was for the better or worse, but it was undeniably different, and begged a careful hand. There were still many questions he wished to find answers to. Without the duties of a headmaster, it seemed he would have a scant bit more free time to pursue them.

Pyrrha was slightly off-put at the silence she received, a little wary of the secrets she now knew the man possessed. But the combination alto-tenner voice broke her from mulling over it.

"By the way Ms. Nikos, have you seen my cane?"

* * *

The way she flowed through the crisp morning air, burst in motion like ripe dewdrops pealing off from waxy leaves. The way her sultry shadow beckoned him, the way the light played with her gem-like eyes, it was all so… familiar.

And the way he was hiding in the underbrush nearby, paralyzed by her image, mired in thought and unable to approach. That was familiar, too.

It was wrong, though. He knew without having to be told. It wasn't how the memories played out. He should not be the voyeur in this scene. Besides, it wasn't his memories to begin with. Or were they? At what point did he stop being Uzumaki Naruto, and start being Naruto Uzumaki?

When had he learned to mistrust his own knowledge? Furthermore, when had he begun to depend on the memories of his previous iteration? Naruto version 1.0 made many mistakes, more than any man, woman or child he knew of.

But more to the point, when had he become so timid? That wasn't part of either selves. And it wasn't helping him solve the immediate issue between him and Ruby.

"Hey Whiskers!"

"Gaaah!"

Naruto sprung backwards like a toad, planting himself into another bush. He blinked as the cheeky grin hovered over him, casting a shadow on his face which was stretched as tight as a tanning hide.

"Geeze, what's got you so high strung?"

He could think of a million appropriate reasons why he should be so nervous, but none of them he wanted to share with the grinning blonde. He grumbled irritably as she offered her hand to dislodge him from the scraggily entrapment.

She flicked him to his feet and he dusted off his disheveled clothes, noting the many tears which had caught in the thorny bush. He foreswore to replace his limited wardrobe at the next opportunity. But he had others issues more pressing, the current one rearing its ugl-err, beautiful head and quirking an expecting grin.

"Hey Yang." Naruto forced a smile at the sudden appearance of the blonde boxer, and struggled to find small talk. "So… I guess you guys came in early?" They had been due in that evening. But he already knew they had arrived sometime the night before. He had been working on a safe way to approach Ruby, as well as working up the courage to do so. Why did it seem so hard to formulate a battle plan?

Yang herself could see through the waffling small-talk. She arched an eyebrow, wondering what was wrong. She wasn't one to mince words, though.

"Um, duh. Sooo… care to tell me why you're watching my sister from the bushes like a stalker?"

Rather than the blubbering mess of denials she hoped to cause, Naruto worried her by averting his gaze and clenching his fists.

"I'm… sorry. I'm not trying to be weird or anything. It's just…" A half-sigh half laugh caught him off guard.

In truth, Yang knew the young man was incapable of possessing ill-intent beyond the occasional prank, and was simply looking forward to teasing her favorite target. Especially when she could recycle the ammunition later against her sister. But the dejected look on the boy's face as he ground his teeth to dust was the equivalent of a cold shower for that desire.

"What's the matter Whiskers? Why don't you just talk to her?"

He couldn't help his frustration from growing and his nails from digging into his palm. How in the hell was he supposed to answer that, let alone explain it? He swallowed the lump in his throat, and wet his cracked lips.

She tried to interpret his silence as shyness. But that emotion and Naruto didn't go together, and so she was left with an even more twisted picture than the one she had already framed.

"What's wrong, Naruto?"

His name coming from her lips was such a shock that it made him gasp for words, floundering at the garbled mouthful that tried to break free. But after a few seconds of nothing useful coming forth and Naruto obviously resistant to telling her, Yang sighed and shook her head ruefully. She looked up and turned to face her sister, just entering the crescendo of her kata. She smiled at a secret only she knew.

"She's amazing, isn't she?"

He sighed at the reprieve and roped his wayward words back in. This was a question he could answer.

"Yeah. She is."

He didn't stumble. He didn't need to obfuscate, lie, dissemble or flatter. There was no denying that despite her previous awkwardness, her random obsession with dangerous objects, her unflappable naiveite- or maybe because of all those things, she was one of the most amazing people he knew. Maybe he was just beginning to figure that out.

But it still didn't help with the other problem.

"So. Go talk to her. Whatever your issue is, I'm sure you two can work it out." Yang planted her hands on her hips and leered menacingly down at Naruto, making him feel like he had reverted to his twelve-year-old self. No matter how he had grown, the charisma card carried by the big sister was something no amount of training could counter.

"It's… not that simple, Yang." He tried to assert, shaking his head in dismay as the topic of their discourse continued to dance obliviously with her weapon. "It's… I'm…" He stared at his palms as if the answer was there. As if they would bear the telltale marks where he messed up their lives.

"Yes, it is." Yang denied with no small amount of accusation which made him flinch.

Yang was getting frustrated. True, she understood that it was a little hypocritical after ignoring her own repressed issues for so long. But it was the simple facts that broke her out of her denial. Simple things like how her self-absorption had almost gotten her sister killed. And how her sister was the most important thing in her life.

She didn't care what the young man thought he was. If he thought he was a monster or freak, it didn't matter. He couldn't judge himself for her sister, that was her job.

Yang had come to terms with all the deception surrounding the two foreigners, sympathized with his trials including the Kyuubi and everything that came after. But that didn't excuse his wishy-washy attitude now. If she could deal with that, he could deal with whatever the issue was now.

"In fact…" Yang began, getting an evil glint in her eyes that paralyzed Naruto with fear. "I think I'll show you how easy it is…"

"Um, Yang, what are you-?"

Despite his extensive skills training to be a ninja, in addition to what both Glynda and Aurelia had drilled into him, he wasn't ready for Yang to suddenly pounce on him, grab him by the scruff of his neck and fling him into the clearing.

"You'll thank me for this later!" He heard her call above his own screams as he flew through the thick woods towards the clearing which held Ruby.

"Well done, Yang." The young woman grinned, congratulated herself and dusted her palms off. She cupped a hand to her hear and listened to the cries of shock and surprise that she had precipitated with heartwarming contentment.

"Ahh… young love." The sounds of pain and destruction continued to echo as she turned her back and trod out of the wooded training grounds.

"Wonder what the others are up to?"

* * *

"So… what did you want to talk about?"

Ruby asked the needless question to the young man sitting cross-legged across from her. Despite the obvious tension, the two were picturesquely positioned in that cool meadow. A scuffed and sweaty Ruby gazed expectantly at her significantly more disheveled companion.

"Well…" Naruto began, again trying to formulate words to address the elephant in the room. "I guess I wanted to talk about us…" The hand scratching the back of his shaggy head suddenly tensed, ripping out a good chunk of his hair as he realized the accidental insinuation. "Uh, I mean…!"

But to his great surprise, Ruby just nodded solemnly.

"I think that's a good idea." She had no idea of the ulterior turmoil in her counterpart. Her mind was solely focused on addressing the most obvious issue while the two of them could still tolerate being around one another.

"It's strange that the Kyuubi is letting us talk like this." The mention of the name banished all peripheral thoughts from his mind as Naruto gained an uncharacteristic severity about him.

"Do you have any idea why?" Again, now that he was so close to the keeper of his memories, he delved into the incorporeal cloud to try and salvage any knowledge that would let them get a grasp on the situation. "Did anything happen on your mission, you think?"

"I-" She knew she aught to tell him about Raven and the whole ordeal, but wasn't quite sure where to begin. She smiled slightly, though, remembering the satisfaction that came with her minor victory over the fox's influence. "I think he might have bitten off more than he could chew."

Naruto couldn't help but mirror the smile, altruistic pride swelling in his chest.

"I knew you could handle him." He unknowingly reached out across the short distance to grasp her hand. A gesture that so very recently caused great anxiety, so natural now that it felt like a sin. "I never doubted you for a second."

"Thanks." If only she could be so confident in herself. She still had a long way to go, and still did not know where to begin figuring herself out. "But I still need a way to control it."

She then proceeded to tell him the entirety of the story so that he could weigh in with his own experiences. Even if they couldn't figure out the why and how, they could at least use what they knew to predict what would happen next.

Naruto listened to her words in rapt attention, frowning concernedly as he took it all in. The memories he could now access were awash with negative emotions, clouding his judgment. So he relied on that _new_ part of him, the one that he had been growing to think of as 'fake' in order to remain detached and objective.

In the end though, he could offer nothing new. His experiences with the fox had been equally confused an violent, and the whole exercise only served to make him feel more useless than before.

Ruby saw the turmoil on his face, and winced as Naruto unknowingly clenched her hand. She gave a gentle squeeze back which roused him from his dark wallowing. He looked up at her apologetically, and she replied with a silent resilience.

"Don't worry, I'm sure we can figure this out together." She assured him.

He smiled once again at his foolishness. But this time, a warm feeling accompanied the chagrin instead of dismay. It was yet another reminder that he wasn't perfect, but as long as he had others to cover his faults, it didn't matter.

"Maybe I should learn to meditate?" The solution once again implanted itself in her mind from a foreign source. It could have been one of Naruto's memories of his perverted-master's lessons. But the previously hopeful look on the young man's face was dashed with anguish and gloom.

He couldn't deny that it was probably one of the better options out there. But neither the new version of him nor the old knew anything about achieving that kind of inner peace. He had no way to help her in this endeavor, nor even himself.

Ruby chuckled at the groan her suggestion elicited from the blond boy. She had to admit that she herself wasn't overly fond of sitting still and quiet for hours on end. But she could at least relish in the empathy and find levity in his antics.

After expunging his dismay, Naruto sighed as he resigned himself to the inevitability.

"Fine. So, do you have any idea what to do?" He vaguely remembered Jiraya teaching him how. But he also remembered the man tossing him down a chasm, an option they didn't exactly have here.

Ruby deflated at the realization that she too knew nothing beyond the misremembered time her dad tried to get Yang and her to do Tai-chi.

"Um, excuse me?" The soft but intrusive voice yanked the two of them back from sinking over the edge of despair, and sent them both to their feet.

The unassuming freckled boy they found stumbled back nervously when suddenly confronted with the two of them with their weapons.

"Wait! Please! I'm sorry!"

Seeing the pathetic cry for lenience, they cautiously relaxed their stances. Still, they had both gained a healthy paranoia and didn't dismiss their fears just yet. After all, they had been distracted, but he still managed to sneak up on them without their notice.

"Who are you?" Naruto asked, blue eyes coldly bearing down on the ginger.

"I'm-uh, my name is Oscar." He said frankly, almost as if they were supposed to know the name.

Ruby and Naruto shared a glance letting the other know they were equally lost. More so apparently than this young man deep in the woods. They both looked down at 'Oscar' to see past his hand raised in defense, to his eyes which glazed over, as if he wasn't even aware of the two of them. They both tightened their grips on their weapons, wary of anything out of the ordinary. They almost jumped the poor boy as he shook himself out of his trance and slowly stood back up.

"Um, I guess I'm supposed to tell you that… I'm here to help you gain perspective?"

He sounded as unsure of himself as they were of him, and once again their eyes met, mirroring the same skepticism and confusion. But when they turned back to the young man, his emerald eyes winked something different in a private semaphore, a message that was entirely different than what was on his face.

Naruto sighed, and was the first to put away his weapons. He had no idea what made him trust the young man, and neither did Ruby as she continued to stare at him incredulously. His only answer to her was a weak shrug. Oscar clearly didn't have any weapons. And even if he overheard them and knew their secret, it wasn't like they could kill him for his silence. The kid was strange, the whole thing was strange. But then again, so were they.

Maybe it was strange enough to work.

* * *

"Does no one else find this weird?"

Oscar nodded emphatically while Naruto gave a noncommittal shrug. He was just happy that they weren't in a sewer. The dank limestone walls and ominous candle light did little to improve the dungeon-esque atmosphere of the place, but it was at least a change.

And Ozpin just stood there with his insufferable smile.

"You know, it would have helped if you told us who you were from the beginning." Ruby huffed, shooting accusing glances at both the unflappable man and the innocent boy who withered under her glare.

"I do apologize for not coming to you myself," Ozpin said without an ounce of sorry about him. "But I felt that I had taxed young Oscar here a bit too much as of late. He's still getting used to the process."

"I think we all are." Ruby muttered under her breath, crossing her arms petulantly.

"Wait, won't all of us being here be bad?" Naruto questioned, slowly catching on to what was going on and recognizing a bigger implication from his place far behind in the conversation. "I mean, shouldn't what's happening to Oscar happen to Ruby, if we're in her mind?"

The girl paled with that thought and slowly sunk to her knees as the color drained from her face with her mouth frozen in a ghastly cry. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad merging personalities with any _one_ of them, but with three guys and the one of her, she couldn't imagine what kind of slovenly tomboy they would turn out to be.

"Not to worry," Ozpin spoke assuredly, seeing the anguished Ruby. "We are all sharing consciousness at the moment, and are neither physically nor spiritually present in any one mind. Besides, I can assure you that this little trip is merely temporary."

Ruby let loose a sigh of relief, collapsing backwards into Naruto's arms before she could impact the hard, damp floor.

"With that in mind, I suggest we try not to waste any more time discussing our presence here, and work on the task we came her to do."

Rising to the occasion, Ruby nodded seriously along with Naruto as the two fell into a loose formation behind the avatar of the ex-headmaster who seemed to know where he was going. The three of them walked down the dimly lit hallway as Oscar scurried to catch up, all the while lamenting his lot in life.

"Say," Ruby broke the uncomfortable silence as a thought occurred to her. "How did you get a coffee mug in here?"

"Just lucky, I guess." He smiled as the girl blew him a raspberry.

He didn't have the heart to tell her it was empty.

* * *

Sasuke was alone on the banks of a river among a field of rocks. The river wound around the southernmost tip of Mistral and spilled out into the flat plains at the base of the mountain upon which it was build. The stone had been placed on the inside curve of one of the large oxbows as a buttress against erosion, keeping the river from cutting back into the lower-class housing which lay just at the foot of the mountainous city. He kept his back to those slums, and sat facing the thick woods which lay just outside the city's protection.

He didn't imagine himself being sentimental, but also could not help making the connection between the lush forest here, and the vegetation back in Konoha. The capital of Anima might have been in its winter, but it was still temperate as the Hidden Leaf Village and the lush forests gestated subtly outside the sweltering heat of summer. The dead leaves and branches decomposing into nutrients which would feed the rebirth in the spring.

Death, so that life could begin anew.

It was a subtle change, marked only by the rich smell of peat in the air. But back in Vale, the trees were evergreens or, like in forever fall, perpetually in a state of glorious crimson. The eternal seasons which governed that Kingdom left him feeling stagnant, devoid of change, even more so than the months he spent in the barren northern tundra were every day was a new challenge to survival.

Mistral was a happy medium, and he took pleasure in enjoying this brief snapshot, before it was gone.

"There are other places to read, you know."

"Are any of them as good?"

Sasuke looked up from the lush vista to the afternoon sun which radiated down on that little spot and made up for the slight chill in the air. He breathed deeply, smelling the scent of water and earthy humus behind it, so hard to pinpoint above the hustle and bustle of the marketplace and the abject squalor which lay just behind.

"I don't suppose so, no."

Without looking up from her book to appreciate that framed landscape, Blake sat down next to him on his heavy traveling cloak that was spread out on the hard rock. There was a large empty space there which looked inviting, like it was expecting someone.

The only words which passed between the two were the conversations of nature. The river quietly roaring around the bend, and the small trickles of tributaries babbling through the cracks beneath their feet. The spine of Blake's book croaking in protest as she flattened it with her thumb, and the steady tick as the breeze played at the pages.

"I heard about your mission." Sasuke croaked out, suddenly feeling himself out of place. "Do you… need to talk about it?"

The situation between Faunus and Humans was admittedly something he had paid little attention to before. He had easily dismissed it as irrational. Blake was a Faunus, and Faunus were people. But others didn't see it that way. Did he need to think of Blake as _more_ than just a person to understand her? Maybe he was as curious as he was sympathetic.

"Not really." Blake intoned, flipping a page carefully and betraying not a hint of perturbation. "What about **your** mission?" She broke away from her book at last, turning to him with a dull, yet sly look. "Something you want me to know about?"

He glanced at her, trying to see if he could read the emphasis of the words, but came up empty handed. Was she being sarcastic? Accusatory? Or just messing with him? He lamented his lack of knowledge regarding the female species, and Blake in particular. He couldn't find the motivation in anything she did. For lack of anything else, he thought of it as an honest question, and turned it over in his mind.

"Not really, no." He mimicked her response.

It was the odd truth. Rather than not wanting to talk, he found he simply didn't need to. Their mission had been an abject failure, but he had come to terms with it. The wounds they had were superficial, and the more calamitous consequences could wait until another day.

Despite it all, he was at peace with it.

Blake took his answer with a knowing smile and turned back to her book. Once again they descended into silence, but this time Sasuke felt no urge to break it. The unhurried feeling was foreign to both, but they wouldn't get many other chances to practice. Both had learned that times of peace would never last.

But the feeling of relaxation and contentment stayed with him even as his eyes began to dim. The halcyon scenery before him blurred and shuttered as he weakly tried to stay awake, staving off the sudden unrelenting fatigue. He blinked away sleepy tears which ran down his cheeks. It was too painful to resist any longer.

He briefly heard Blake call out his name as he sunk off into the black abyss.

He felt those tears turn into bloody threads which ran down the rock face. Leaving his body, and weaving themselves into the tapestry of water below, recording the fall of another hero.

* * *

"Why is this place so different?" Ruby again broke the silence, discontent and nervous with the lack of conversation in that foreign territory.

As the only one with experience, Naruto began to mull it over.

"That's right. Whenever the fox brought me to see him it was in like this sewer." Ruby scrunched her nose at the thought, suddenly glad of her superior experiences thus far.

"Again," Ozpin broke his own self-imposed muteness, interrupting their discussion. "I think it is a function of the four of us sharing a conscious space. We are not actually in one person's mind nor body, but in a construct that the four of us can understand and contribute to."

The others appraised the monotonous walls with a new angle, wondering what the Medieval stonework said about each of their personalities.

"Or," The reanimated spirit continued, noting their spoiling thoughts. "It could be that something in the seal really has changed, from then and now." This answer brought them little relief.

All four knew when they had reached their destination. For although the scenery had not changed from the unadorned hallway, the atmosphere told them they had crossed a threshold. The rank smell was burnt from the air, and a coldness shook them even as the air seemed to simmer. The hosts of the beast recognized the ominous feeling, leaving the other two with an easy guess

Naruto and Ruby unknowingly stepped forth in sync, fingertips seeking out the briefest contact for reassurance. Ozpin smiled at the courage shown against the physical oppression, and followed not soon after.

Oscar just stood there. He wasn't stupid, and understood that this was just an illusion, a dream, and it couldn't hurt him. But he also wasn't a fool, and knew what fear felt like, and respected the experience given to him from millennia of evolutionary ques.

Ozpin noticed Oscar hadn't followed into the thick atmosphere and darkness that awaited them. He turned and faced the quivering boy expectantly. He couldn't meet the man's eyes.

"You don't have to come with us, understand." The young man flinched with the verbal break in the tension, though it carried no accusation or disappointment.

"This isn't your fight." Ozpin conceded, turning around so his back faced the retreating forms of Naruto and Ruby. Oscar tried to excuse his very rational trepidations, tried to assure himself that it really wasn't his place. "However…" He chanced a gaze at the older man's eyes, and knew instantly it was a mistake.

"You are like me. You can't stand idly by and let others fight alone. Whether you realize it or not, you have already formed a bond that you don't want to abandon." Ozpin smiled, and Oscar already knew what his decision would be. "Rest assured, that bond goes both ways."

Ozpin lifted his empty hand into the air, extending it out at Oscar who was cowering in his boots.

"You don't have to struggle alone, anymore. Not if you don't want to. Come.

"Take the first step."

Naruto and Ruby descended into darkness the further they went in the tunnel. But even as the torchlight waned, the burning rage was fanned into an inferno. Their hands sought each other out blindly, unconsciously clamping down to lift each other up by their bootstraps and keep them out of the abyss. But still they pressed forward.

The tunnel lightened and widened simultaneously, spitting them out in a cavernous chamber of incalculable width and breadth. A night sky could have been fit under the stone roof above, reflected into the bottomless pool below. And in front of them, Black on black, was the first familiar thing. The demon fox perched on the solitary pillar which rose from that nothingness.

"It's… bigger than I remember." This colossal specter was a far cry from the foxlike ghoul she had defeated in the cavern of her own mind.

Naruto grinned, bearing his own canines in a smile and squeezing the girl's hand gently.

"You know what they say, the bigger they are…" He shrugged at the vast swaths of empty air between themselves and the trapped beast. Ruby gave him a smile and nod in return.

" **Uzumaki Naruto…** " The midnight creature shifted on its platform and cracked its glowing red eyes in their direction. " **…and Ruby Rose. I, remember you two…** " It cracked its maw in a taunting smile, bone-white teeth framing a fathomless black pit behind.

"And I remember you, you bastard…" Naruto growled, readying a diatribe he had remembered and forgotten a dozen times over.

But he was promptly cut off as Ruby shakily took a step forward, putting herself between him and the Kyuubi. He chastised himself silently, clenching his now empty fist. This was her fight now, not his.

"You remember me, Kyuubi?" The girl did her best to keep her voice calm and steady.

" **Of course,** " The beast's grin perhaps widened at the façade of bravery he was being shown. " **How could I forget the foolish little girl who made a deal with the devil?** "

Naruto kept his mouth shut, feeling oddly neglected and out of place while Ruby allowed herself the tiniest of smiles. This Kyuubi remembered her. It was something familiar, something she had faced before. It wasn't the unknown, and it certainly wasn't a devil.

"Then can you remember how you got here? How did you get sealed inside of me?" What changed, and how could they fix it?

The Kyuubi purred in self-satisfaction, and the action resonated with the stones and through their feet. It understood the questions the girl was really asking, but felt no rush to deliver them.

" **Yes, I remember.** " It paced around on top of the pillar that was almost too small for it, shifting its weight into a comfortable position so it could milk this gratifying situation for as long as possible.

Ruby stood, waiting patiently for the beast to go on and trying hard not to shiver under the predatory gaze.

"Well… are you going to tell us?"

The maw lashed out at them, and they both briefly forgot the creature couldn't move from its platform. Recomposing themselves, they recognized the ferocious laughter for what it was.

" **Sure, why not? I find this entertaining.** "

Once again Ruby had to keep Naruto from sticking up for her, butting in and perhaps dissolving the loose ground they stood on. She turned back to the Kyuubi and reaffixed her fighting face.

" **Hmph. I can't understand Shukaku's levity, you humans are no fun to tease.** "

Behind the girl who was demonstrating the patience of a saint, Naruto found himself occupied with the puzzle whose borders were ever expanding. Rather than interject the fact that he was no longer "human", he concentrated on the wealth of information the beast had betrayed in that little back and forth. It remembered them, and it remembered it's brethren. Did it possess all of its previous memories? It was also in an uncharacteristically good mood, finding their intrusion to be entertaining rather than vexing. He had even more questions than when he entered, but Ruby seemed to be holding her own, and so he bit his tongue.

" **Yes, I remember everything from our world.** " It confirmed as if reading Naruto's thoughts. Maybe it could, if it remembered all the time it spent trapped inside of him. " **It took me longer than expected to get everything… sorted out, after our transformation. Of course, I won out in the end. The creatures of Grimm might show intelligence, but are without a will to call their own.** "

It was clear from the first that the Kyuubi had somehow, and for whatever reason, merged with the legendary Grimm. It went a long way to explaining why it had appeared so disconnected and juvenile before. But it still put emphasis on the most burning question…

"But, why me?" Ruby bowed her head, looking at her feet and her bare knees that glared out at her from just under her skirt line.

" **Why is the sky blue? Why is the planet round? Why does fire burn?** " It glared down its black snout at the pitiful girl in contempt. " **These things are. They happen because that's the way the universe works.** " Ruby's head snapped back up and the two, non-humans could see the tears brimming in her eyes.

"Then-what about the deal? The exchange? What was any of that for?!" She shouted at the foxlike monster, and it seemed to curl back into its own blackness.

" **By the time you got there, it was already too late.** " It confessed without a hint of remorse for the deception it caused. " **None of this was my doing. We are all slaves to the universe we occupy. The one thing we have a say in is our choice to live. In order for me to survive, I had to take on this form, just as he had to become what he is.** " The Kyuubi gestured a lazy claw to Naruto who didn't notice he was being talked about like he wasn't there.

" **And just like you had to be the new container. His body hadn't been formed yet, and the universe couldn't accommodate the influx of my power, so it needed to contain it somewhere else.** "

Ruby looked back to see Naruto was as confused as she was with the explanation, and the Kyuubi sighed in impatience.

" **Think about blowing up a balloon.** " He could see the empathetic image being formed in both their heads. " **Now, think about doing it underwater. That is like my chakra entering this universe. When I was… released, it was like the balloon was punched full of holes. The air had to go somewhere, and unlike underwater, it couldn't escape upwards.** "

It tried its best to explain it in terms that the two could understand, and it could explain. The truth was far, far more complicated than even it could comprehend, and it neglected to tell them that the universe itself had been slowly eating away at its chakra like oxygen corroded metal. It figured that the they were too preoccupied with other things, and would not question how an immortal being could be 'dying'.

" **The next best thing was…** "

"A living being." Ruby finished for it in a whisper that echoed in the wall-less room.

" **That's not all. Just like my previous container, there's something… special about you, Ruby Rose.** " She looked up as the Kyuubi gazed solemnly down at her. " **Surely you must have realized it by now.** "

Silver eyes. It was always about her silver eyes. It was always that half-assed answer. Her fists shook as her clenched fingers dug painfully into her palm. She bit her lip and clamped her eyes shut as unrecognized frustration finally demanded to be heard.

Maybe everyone was right. Maybe she was naïve. She wanted to change the world and make sure people could live happily ever after. But all she had been worried about was fitting in, unthinking of the hard path, the sacrifices which lay ahead.

Normal knees. Being special. If only that were the only exchange she had to make.

She felt a hand on her shoulder, but she couldn't allow him to look at her in her shame. Naruto didn't give up. That hand snaked across her quivering shoulders and squeezed her tight against his chest, so that she could feel his heartbeat across their two bodies.

Thirteen years. Naruto had born this burden that long, without anyone for support. Why couldn't she carry it for a little while? Even though she had other friends to shoulder the load, she kept falling back into denial. She thought she could handle it. She thought she could conquer her darkness. So why was it so hard?

" **Why are you still here, Ruby Rose, if I have answered all of your questions?** "

"Why are you being so damned helpful all of a sudden?" Naruto growled at the fox who growled back, clearly hostile to this Naruto-that-still-was-not.

" **The creatures of Grimm are not evil.** " It spat. " _ **I**_ **am not evil. We are both forces of nature, given form. The Grimm are a result of an imbalance, the same that precipitated my new existence as well as your abomination of a life. I cannot lie or dissemble any longer. I cannot foment chaos as was my want. I am bound to my purpose here, just as we all are.** " It fell silent and seemed to lose its animosity towards its former host. Its shoulders slumped and the black spikes which resembled fur smoothed back into its anemone texture.

"What…" A quivering voice came from the distraught rose. "What might that be?" She choked out at last.

What was its purpose? What was hers? What was the purpose of life itself?

" **That,** " It heaved a sigh and lay down on its forepaws. " **Is something I cannot answer.** "

"So you aren't really any help at all." It was an accusation, an untrue one. The inky-black fox didn't react to the guilt forced into it.

" **I am not an enemy. At least, not in the way you think.** "

"That doesn't help…" Ruby clamped her eyes shut again, knocking a few teardrops onto her cheeks.

She was failing. She had hoped the fox could give her a clear direction of what to do. Even if it had been adversarial, it would at least be a clear challenge for her to overcome. Now, she alone was the obstacle to their success.

"Ruby…" The whisper of her name spurred her forward, gave her a little more fuel to burn. She could fight, as long as it wasn't just for herself.

"What about Naruto?" She gazed back up at the fox, her silver eyes fringed with red. "What about his memories?"

The fox growled and shifted its gaze just slightly to Ruby's left. It didn't say anything, just narrowed its eyes as if suddenly wary of them.

Then they saw it. Just a flash of light against the impenetrable darkness of the fox's undulating hide. Pale, flailing twigs. Fingers, a hand, an arm.

Ruby and Naruto both gasped as the appendage fought against the inescapable shackles of its prison. It was a worm trying to wriggle its way out of the tar and into the sky. But it was bound by the inescapable gravity. The disembodied arm groped and grasped at the fur that wasn't there, trying to find a handhold and drag itself out of the sea of black kelp.

The fox just continued to stare at their aghast expressions without moving.

" **I'm afraid… that I cannot answer that.** "

"Naruto…!" She drew in a sharp breath as the form desperately clawed its way out of the Kyuubi's body, black, mucky tendrils lashing it and trying to swallow it back up. But not before a face appeared in a silent scream which choked on the oily worms trying to drown it. It was unmistakable.

"That's-!"

"Me." Naruto finished breathlessly.

" **I need him. He contains my memories as well as yours, and without it I will be driven to mindless insanity.** "

"But they're his memories too!" Ruby found the strength to protest in defense of her friend. "I thought you were supposed to be fair!"

" **I am nature.** " The Kyuubi reiterated calmly, and the embodiment of Naruto's memories was swallowed back up by the beast's amorphous body. " **All nature wants to survive. Even if he didn't know it, my previous container contained the genetic pattern of the prison he held me in. The same which binds me to you, Ruby Rose. I will do whatever I need to live and be free.** "

"You said you weren't our enemy," Ruby once again directed the cumulative response of her injury at the fox, who this time managed to look ashamed even without depth to show a frown. "Why can't we be friends? Why can't you help us and let us help you?"

The Kyuubi's eyes were the most reliable thing they could use to interpret its mood, and right now those red-hot furnaces sparked with an unknown substance thrown into the fire.

" **I am not your enemy.** " It repeated after a long pause. " **I have told you what I can, and will give you ample warning.** " It stretched a scraggly paw with a single, hooked claw out towards Naruto, almost bridging halfway across the vastness between them. But it felt like it was grazing his forehead.

" **I** _ **will**_ **be after the last piece to the puzzle, the only part Naruto's memories couldn't provide.** "

It turned then to Ruby who stood bold, even without Naruto to prop her up. In fact, she took a half-step out of his embrace to approach the claw which moved to her, cocking upwards as if to stroke her cheek.

" **Watch yourself carefully Ruby Rose. Do not give in to the darker emotions of humanity. The more you succumb, the harder it is for me to refrain from destroying you.** "

"I won't let you lay a finger on her!" Naruto shouted out, stepping up next to Ruby.

" **I almost pity you, boy.** " The Kyuubi smiled menacingly. " **But, I don't.** "

It said that it couldn't tell a lie. It really did feel some pity for the creature once known as Uzumaki Naruto, forced to wander this world a remnant of his former self. However…

Its smile grew wider and more bony teeth were revealed. Slowly they noticed that the ambient darkness that took up the rest of the room was encroaching on the fox, and either it or they were being drawn further away. The smile all that remained.

 **I don't, because we're all trying to survive. Because it was your people that sealed me, and you in turn brought me here. And, most of all, because I am alone, while you are not.**


	15. Multi Kontra Culti Vs Irony

**Hello!**

 **I hope you all can understand that the meaning of my cheerful greeting. Yes indeed, I have decided to take another stab at finishing off this bad boy, so lucky you (I guess)! For those silent types, there are really only a couple of people you should be thanking for this if you enjoy this story. Not going to pander to those people here, but rest assured, you know who you are and you are appreciated! I got a second wind after taking a break for the holidays (Break from writing, that is), but I still would be nowhere without you!**

 **So, that said, sorry this chapter is late. Just drove for 10 hours to get back home and this was the first thing I did. But rest assured, starting tomorrow, work on more will resume!**

* * *

"This… is wrong." Naruto bit out defeatedly.

The others agreed with him, but couldn't manage to demonstrate this beyond a tight-fisted nod of frustration. Those were the lucky ones. Some of the bereaved friends couldn't bring themselves to look upon the unresponsive body folded in those stark white sheets without spilling forth a cascade of emotions.

Sasuke might have been... abrasive at times. But he didn't deserve this, to be broken and defenseless in a hospital bed. He was their friend. If he were awake he might have denied it, but with his eyes clamped shut and an oxygen mask over his mouth, any words at all would be a welcome miracle.

"What happened?" The young man's partner and friend questioned roughly.

Blake ignored the accusatory tone, and was doing a good job of ignoring everything else. She appeared detached, from the world as well as the rest of the group crowded around the single hospital bed. She occupied a solitary corner, shrinking in and guarding herself with arms crossed. She couldn't bring herself to look at any of them, least of all the young man who had bled all over her being carried back to the hospital. But she still managed to answer.

"I-I don't know." She shook her head and buried her chin into her chest. "He was fine, and then…"

He still looked fine. Normal even, if not for the pained grimace, frozen on his face. The doctors had cleaned the blood which had spilled from his eyes and all other orifices. Changed him into a pristine hospital gown so that they might have a clear picture of the invisible injury. He lay there, unmarked and unmoving like Snow White.

But the only kiss that awaited him was the one of death. Even in the short time they had been hovering over him, he seemed to fade away before their very eyes. Recently tanned skin turned ghostly pale, and the heart monitor slowed like a windup clock at the end of its spring.

Naruto clenched his fist futilely, but nodded a begrudging acceptance. She didn't owe him any explanation. It was his fault, anyway. He had known of his comrade's suffering, and yet did nothing, choosing instead to believe in the young man's denial of its severity.

A gentle hand made its way to and enveloped his shoulder, he turned in surprise to find his taller blonde comrade gazing down at him with a knowing and sympathetic expression.

That's right. Jaune was there too, back then. And so was Glynda, and Aurelia, and Oobleck. Did they know something like this was going to happen? Did they keep the truth from him, from both of them?

No. As much as he wanted to eschew the blame, the last word rested with him. He had known all along that his friend was unwell. Maybe he ignored it, willfully or otherwise, preferring to think of Sasuke as an unchanging constant in his life, the only one he could rely on these uncertain days.

Another set of fingers pried their way into his clamped fist, and he didn't have to turn to see the girl's watery silver eyes looking at him worriedly.

It wasn't like other distractions hadn't vied for his attention. No one would blame him for being unable to cure Sasuke. But he would. Because he knew he was selfish, and that even given the chance to do things over, he would be unable to conquer his own hyper cathexis. His mind was always too busy wrapped around his faliures.

The dark-haired boy, laying by death's door, was just another example. Sasuke had never ceased being his comrade, his friend, even if he had forgotten him.

"I'm sorry." He apologized to his partner he had ignored.

"I'm sorry." He apologized to his comrades he had let down.

"I'm sorry." He apologized to her.

"Damn it!" He broke down.

He wasn't aware of his fists pounding the floor, cracking turquoise tiles and shaking the room. He wasn't aware of his friends leaping to his side, away from him, trying to keep him from falling to his knees and trying to get out of his path of destruction. He was briefly aware of his tears, before they filled his eyes and blurred everything into unrecognizable mosaic of colors. The only thing he knew for sure was the debilitating and omnipresent pain.

His fist suddenly stopped before it could bloody itself again against the broken shards of ceramic. A black-gloved hand held it back, the surprisingly delicate appendage keeping his own firmly there, and he was unable to break free. Even if he wanted to.

"There's nothing to be sorry about." She said calmly, keeping up a brave face for those that couldn't.

Blake gently closed her hand around his wadded-up fist, his fresh blood mingling with the dried stains already soaking her gloves. She had both their blood on her hands. She placed her other arm under his shoulder and lifted up his nearly limp body, not letting him fall even when Ruby rushed in to take his other side.

"There's nothing to be sorry about," She reiterated firmly, meeting his eyes so that she knew he understood. "He's going to be okay. It's going to be alright."

Naruto bit his lip and rubbed away the greedy tears from his eyes, matching her resolution with a look of his own.

"I sure hope you're right."

….

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Glynda wanted to be angry, but knew she had no grounds to be so. She had employed Aurelia knowing she had secrets of her own. But still, if she had been told, maybe they could have done something to prevent it.

"I could say that it wasn't my right to do so. Student-teacher confidentiality and all that." The senior huntress matched the headmistress's incendiary gaze with two hunks of ice. "I could use that as an excuse, but the truth is I simply didn't want to. It was my Semblance keeping him alive, my soul to lay bare, and I still prefer to keep it that way."

"That's fine under normal circumstances," Glynda fired back, not intimidated in the slightest by the nonchalant dismissal of her righteous upset. "But Sasuke is also one of **my** students, and if there was a cure for his ailment, then I deserved to know what it is."

"You know that's a load of Ursa-shit. Sasuke and Naruto have only ever been students of Beacon in name alone, and not even that under you."

The elder Arc woman held up a firm hand, stifling Glynda's oncoming outrage to her provocative statement. They could argue semantics all night long, but it wouldn't help anything. Eventually Glynda would concede this.

"For the record," She continued her humbling diatribe. "My regenerative Semblance works best for me, and it doesn't make me immortal. It was never a cure, only a delay of the inevitable."

Glynda backed down, accepting this unhappily.

Aurelia felt some measure of sympathy for her fellow huntress, something she only gave with a great deal of respect having already been earned. She couldn't chastise her for growing an attachment to the two young men, it would be hypocritical to do so. But Glynda was also in charge of a great deal, and she couldn't afford to indulge herself in these grudges like Aurelia could.

"I could have had you go with them, though, and not kept you here." Glynda reasoned weakly, knowing that she would have been severely short-handing herself if she had allowed that to happen.

"I wouldn't have gone." The flaxen blond shook her head ruefully. "He asked me not to."

"What?" Glynda stood up abruptly, sending the rolling chair careening backwards into the glass windows. Her anger shifting from the woman in front of her to the idea of Sasuke as he was, and not the comatose body over in Mistral. "Why would he be so foolish?"

"He _is_ a teenage boy." Aurelia shrugged half-heartedly. "They are prone to do stupid things."

She sighed as her fellow blonde shot her a withering glare.

"I honestly don't know why he didn't want me along. Maybe he thought that the mission you sent him on would be enough to send him out in a blaze of glory."

Glynda heaved a heavy sigh and let herself collapse on the eternal wood desk. She shook her head in her hands, mussing up her tightly bound hair, muttering all the while.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid."

"I agree." Aurelia spoke up over the hushed monologue. In her hand she fingered a bronze locket, rubbing over its smoothed-out floral embossing.

"There's never any glory in death."

…..

"I'm sure General Ironwood has already been informed of the issue." Weiss reasoned with a dour Naruto whose mood had not improved much since being chased out by irate hospital staff for disturbing a patient. "He'll have the best people working on Sasuke's case in no time."

Naruto didn't respond either positively or negatively. He already knew that this was likely the case once Glynda had been notified of his partner's sudden hospitalization. But it didn't make any difference in his mind. Not until it was over, and they could go home together.

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news," A slurred voice broke the students' private conference in the hospital waiting room. "But _Jimmy_ has been aware of the issue for some time, and they still haven't found shit about the kid's condition." Qrow grimaced into his flask, staring at the dark hole of sloshing liquid but not taking a sip. It was like his favorite vintage suddenly turned sour. A foul life, once again being the bearer of bad news.

"What do you mean?" Weiss questioned perplexedly, and the rest of team RWBY and JNPR turned to the man in equal surprise. "If he knew, why didn't they take care of him already? Why did Glynda allow him to go on this mission in the first place?" It was a question that all of them now wanted answered.

All of them, save one.

"It doesn't matter right now." They all turned as Naruto spoke his first words in hours. They were too surprised to be taken aback by the callous declaration from the bright young man's mouth.

"But, Naruto-" Ruby began to speak up as Blake stood over their shared couch with an expressionless mask holstering her loaded eyes aimed at him.

"It doesn't matter what they did or didn't do. Not now." He spoke firmly, choking back his own pain. Blake didn't know whether to embrace him or claw his eyes out. "I know they'll be working day and night to find a cure. But while they do that, our time is running out."

Team JNPR each sat up straight with a hardened expression, and RWBY looked uncomfortable at what this might mean for them.

"We still have a lot left to do. Emerald is still out there, along with whatever remnants of the White Fang are willing to fight. And of course, then there's _Salem_ …" he spat her name out like a curse, and Blake hissed, shocking her friends with the animosity.

The cat Faunus was proving a great deal more volatile lately, ever since this afternoon when Yang found her stumbling towards the central hospital with a blood-soaked Sasuke in her arms. All the sorrow and fear that they had expected of her became ornery decisiveness, dangerous and unstable like a hand grenade, looking for a good place to explode.

"Kid's right." Qrow piped up, subtly putting away his untouched libations and stepping closer to the congregation. "All of us have things we could be doing, things we **need** to be doing if we are going to prevent Salem from starting an all-out war. Don't get me wrong, the things you kids have been doing have been a huge help. But this peace we had, the one you were brought up in, was never solid to begin with, and it's going to take a lot more than a few quick stitches to keep from tearing apart."

"We just need to make sure _we_ don't start another war in the process." Jaune piped up, unafraid to talk back to this audience. "We can't rush it, or risk ruining all the good we have done."

"We also can't sit here idle!" Naruto hopped to his feet, growling, teeth bared at Jaune who was looking at him with a mix of fear and disappointment. At the latter, Naruto seemed to calm down and the electric aura making his hair stand on end dispersed. "I admit that we have a lot of work left to do. But at the same time, some of us can be out there, tracking down the obvious threats and getting rid of them."

"Someone like you?" Jaune questioned in harsh overtones, the only language Naruto would understand in this emotional state.

"Why not?" Naruto sighed, gazing down at his hands which, while fresh and clean, still carried the blood of a thousand ghosts on them. "After all, I'm-"

"Don't you dare." He blinked as Ruby suddenly stepped between him and his murderous appendages. "Don't you dare say it. We've been through this before. You're not expendable. None of you are." The young woman looked out to the assembled group of friends with a fierce look, daring anyone to deny her. Even Qrow was cowed into silence by his niece's deterministic stance.

"I'll go with him." All eyes, now wide open, turned to the dark-haired Faunus. "I'll take Sasuke's place and watch his back." She gave the other Faunus a reassuring smile, but it was obviously forced.

Naruto made no such attempt to sooth things, and made his disapproval known via the deep frown on his face. But Blake was insistent, and likewise made sure he knew she wasn't going to accept a no.

"But Blake, what about your team?" Ruby was another matter.

"I'm sorry Ruby." Ruby became crestfallen, already knowing what that tone meant. "Naruto needs my help more than you guys do, right now. I have to take Sasuke's place." She looked to the rest of her team, and then to JNPR. "I'm the only one that can."

All jokes of being ninja-like aside, Blake was admittedly the most appropriate substitute. She had her own darkness. She had yet to take a life, even during her days in the White Fang. But right now, the look she had assumed let everyone know that would not soon be a problem.

Naruto was already gearing his own stubborn denial, prepared to say he could go it alone and spare another friend the burden. But he caught himself in the reflex. He had admitted his own flaws not an hour before, and it would be a greater disrespect to his partner if he ignored that lesson. He needed someone right now to keep him in check.

"Okay." He admitted, much to everyone's shock.

Ruby was by far the hardest to convince, and it was easy to understand her look of betrayal. There wasn't anything he could really say to make it right, but he owed her the attempt. He turned to her, took her hands into his, feeling it was his responsibility to justify Blake's decision. But before he could even get a single word out, he was beaten to the punch.

"Just, promise me you'll be careful, alright?" Naruto couldn't say anything at first, stunned by the words which were at complete odds with the pained and bitter expression on that normally cute face. "Promise me, you'll bring her back safe. Promise me, you'll both come back safe."

The others watched the private exchange with mixed looks of confusion and awe. No one could have predicted this morning what course the rest of the day would take, but this strange progression seemed on par with everything else in their messed-up existence thus far. Yang gazed longingly at her sister with pride, and just the barest hints of jealousy for her unwavering faith. Weiss had no divided emotions, and appraised her captain with renewed respect for doing something that she too viewed as bitterly necessary.

"I promise." Naruto said with a small smile that was so far removed from the beaming grins he doled out on a daily basis. "And that's a promise of a _thousand_ lifetimes."

"Fine, fine, let's finish up playing musical teams and actually think about this for a few seconds, okay?" Qrow rudely interrupted the quaint moment, trying to regain some semblance of control and remind the neophyte huntsman and huntresses of the seriousness of the matter at hand.

"Great. Once again, I have my full compliment of terrifying teens, ready to cry havoc and unleash the dogs of war- well, cat and fox-boy, I guess. But, need I remind you, that right now we don't even have a place to start? All of my informants dried up in Vale, Mistral is all discombobulated with what Jauny-boy has been up to, and Neo just euthanized our only real lead on my sister, so I have no way of knowing where any of our most-wanted list are right now." He threw his hands up in exasperation.

"The Faunus are attacking! It's the White Fang!"

The front doors slid open behind Qrow and in came two young men supporting a third between them. The man they were shouldering had his head bowed so it was plain to see his thick, brown hair was matted by profuse amounts of blood which still dribbled onto the tile floor as they staggered in. The other two weren't without injury, but were more shell-shocked than anything else, and able enough to drag their friend over the threshold.

"Well, that's convenient." While the panicked nurses and floor staff attended the stricken victims, everyone looked aghast at Nora who huffed at the attention with her arms crossed. "What? You were all thinking it."

"Yeah, it's almost too convenient…" Jaune looked outside the glass front of the hospital to see the sudden panic outside.

"Be that as it may…" Naruto gave Ruby's hands one last squeeze and shared a smile with the huntress before the two broke to reach for their respective weapons.

"We have a job to do."

…..

"Brother! Why are you fighting against us?" A Grimm-masked Faunus shouted over the din of the panicked crowd around them.

"Brother? You must have me mistaken for someone else… I killed all my brothers a long time ago…heh heh heh heh!"

The armed group simultaneously backed up as the obviously deranged man in front of them lashed out with his whip-like segmented tail. Well, most of them did, as an unlucky of their number was caught across the midsection, a deep gouge tearing past his newly awakened Aura and lightweight armor. The White Fang who had spoken made a lunge at his comrade, but was helpless as the tail came back around to skewer the injured soldier through his calf and drag him out of reach.

"No, no, no…" The slick-haired man muttered over the screams, his golden eyes sticky with bloodlust as they roved over the squirming youth he strung up by his tail. "No, I don't recognize you. Nope. Sorry. All you White Fang look the same…he, he, he! The question is: what are you all doing here?"

The one in charge shivered as that jaundiced gaze shifted to him. He took a half-step back and nearly tripped over their discarded disguises, the flagrant garments shed in haste moments before being confronted with this fearsome traitor to their species. The foe just continued to stand there with a crooked grin and his arms crossed expectantly.

"We have a job to do." Their leader managed to sound official as he squared himself up again, clenching his katar in his fist to stop it from shaking. "And you're in our way."

"No, no, no, you've got it wrong again." The man looked ready to continue, but stopped and glared over his shoulder at the still suspended Faunus, bleeding out slowly and loudly. "Oh, do be quiet, will you?" With a flick of his tail, he dislodged the wounded man from his hooked stinger, and with another effortless movement batted him away into the panicked throngs, the dense marketplace crowds still struggling to flee the scene.

"Anyway, as I was saying… you have it wrong. You are in **my** way, and I have a mission which was tasked to me personally by our goddess!" He finally unlocked his arms so that he could hold them reverently to the night sky, much to the disturbance and confusion of the White Fang hit squad.

"We were told to take out the dark-haired huntsman in the hospital," The spokesman for the White Fang bit out patiently, eyeing the obviously dangerous man. "and that's what we're going to do. If you're here to help us, fine. If not, you better get out of our way."

"Well…" The Faunus with the scorpion tail scratched his chin as if mulling things over. "That **was** what I was sent here to do, so I suppose I **could** work with you…ha!"

The soldiers all reacted reflexively as the man suddenly charged them. The White Fang Captain braced himself as the tail cracked forward, already with a duck and counter in line to be played. When the living weapon suddenly changed direction, looping around him as the man shot past, lashing out at his comrade on the right. The other soldier managed to deflect most of the armored appendage, but put all of his effort and concentration into just that, and so did not see when the mysterious Faunus swiped across his throat with previously hidden wrist blades.

The others already on their way to help were bowled over as the dead body was cast into them. Their attacker just as swiftly pivoted back around and leapt to engage the captain's other flank, dispatching the threat with an almost playful feint and cutting up into their stomach with a painful twist.

He watched the body slump off his blade with a giddy curiosity, taking special interest in the way they clutched weakly for their entrails which spilled out on the dusty ground. He focused on this and ignored the surrounding White Fang soldiers, who were paralyzed out of shock and fear for the lightening-quick attack.

All except for the captain, who snorted with fury and blitzed the distracted Faunus. He lunged for the man with his stabbing blade, but was blocked casually and without looking. He had to duck suddenly to avoid getting flattened by the man's tail, but as soon as it passed he was back at it, attacking the unflinching man with a desperate fury.

If only they had more experienced fighters with them. This had been an assassination mission, and it should have been abandoned the minute things started to go south. But they had stayed to question the strange Faunus who accosted them, and lost their chance to flea into the night. Now, he doubted if they even had a chance to make it out alive.

"Why are you fighting against us, your own kind?" Their blades in a deadlock, he chanced a plea for reason he hoped the other man would listen to.

"My kind? We are nothing alike. You are pawns for the goddess and I am her brilliant knight." The man was un-winded from being forced to block, he wasn't even putting any effort into fighting them. "Or maybe I'm a Bishop? I never did care for chess. Like I said, I **could** work with you, but that just wouldn't be any fun!"

The captain saw the tail come at him from the corner of his eye, but was ready this time, and hopped straight up in the air over it, kicking down at the man with his powerful leg muscles. Still, the man didn't flinch as the hooves clacked off his vambraces, and the captain flipped backwards to gain some distance from the unwinnable fight.

"Your mission is to kill the huntsman, right?" The captain panted out. "You're wasting time fighting us. Won't the goddess be displeased if you fail your mission."

His only answer was an enraged hiss as the man shot at him, leaping up and bearing down on him with his considerable weight. The tail followed afterwards and broke the captain's guard, forcing the man to dodge the following slashes and narrowly duck underneath the stinger aimed at piercing more than just his ear. The hardened black chitin grazed by his mask, whisking the sweat off his cheek. He tried stabbing upwards with his thrusting blade, but missed the joint and his weapon merely skittered off.

The captain embraced the tree-trunk sized appendage and cartwheeled over it, hopping back quickly and narrowly avoiding its return swing.

"Don't you dare say such things!" The man shouted, clearly upset by the mere suggestion. "I **will** kill the huntsman in my own time. He's not going anywhere. Besides, you ants have already created a fine distraction for me!"

He was about to charge the beleaguered captain again, when the rest of his White Fang comrades finally broke from their stupors and came to his rescue. Those with firearms unloaded them at the crazed juggernaut, uncaring of the innocents trapped in the crossfire.

"Oi! Knock it off!"

The ones with bladed weapons only had a split second to turn their heads to the shout, before a brightly colored discus was slingshot into their midst, knocking them every which way.

"Nora! You and Ren get those civilians out of the way! Pyrrha and I will make sure none of them get to the hospital!"

The rotating projectile halted instantaneously with a massive hammer as an anchor. From the other side of the weapon, the childish woman saluted her captain's order and flung herself over the recovering terrorists, ignoring them in favor of her assigned objective.

"Good work, Blake!" The other captain shouted to the woman who was already retracting her tensioned ribbon after launching the human wrecking ball into the fray. "Weiss, Yang. You two go together and see if there aren't any more of these guys around the city." The two didn't question their leader as she seamlessly fell into the lead between Naruto and Blake confronting the confusing battle they had discovered. They quickly climbed a staircase of glyphs up and over the chaos, and into the disturbed night.

"Ruby! Stay away from that guy!" Her uncle commanded as he injected himself into their formation, all traces of alcoholic belligerence gone and in its place an incontestable intensity.

The sobriety of the order actually kept the girl from following it intuitively, as she questioned the almost frantic undertones in Qrow's voice. But then her remaining teammate spoke up, tipping the scales.

"Ruby and I will mop up the rest of the White Fang while you guys take care of that guy." It was more than just a personal grudge that she had not yet been able to shrug, and Blake sensed something instinctive from the arachnoid Faunus that sent her danger senses haywire. Luckily, rather than argue the point further, Ruby deferred to her judgment and turned her focus to the surprised White Fang.

On one hand, the captain of the hit squad was relieved that someone had interceded between themselves and their deranged kin. On the other, it was obvious that despite the youthful age, these were trained huntresses they were dealing with, and they faired little better chance against them in a straight up fight.

Failure at this point meant the same fate with either foe, and capture promised a summary execution by the government of Mistral for their attempted actions that night. But if perhaps they could wedge enough time to get away, there was a slim chance they might live to see a manhunt searching for them. It was only that thought which rallied the captain's will to fight, and made him convey this dedication to the remainder of his comrades.

He charged at the diminutive leader of the group, and she adopted a defensive stance with her incongruously large weapon braced in front of her. Despite, or perhaps because of all the battles she had faced recently, Ruby was hesitant to decimate their forces outright, and preferred them to willfully surrender.

Blake had no such restraint and took the initiative with the blink of any eye, wrapping her ribbon around the captain's wrist and yanking him off course. The man's hooves skittered on the cobblestone ground and he toppled over, being dragged towards the cat Faunus who was reeling him in. Even though he was not a frontline fighter, the leader was a trained assassin, and was used to having to make strategies up on the fly. He dug in and shifted, yanking the woman towards him, intent to take her to ground.

She let him lead her, but leapt up and descended on him with newfound power imbued into a vertical slash. The attack cut through the stone like a knife through butter, but missed the flighty captain as he rolled out of the way.

The man's teammates made to attack their fellow Faunus when her back was turned towards them, but Ruby got between them with a flurry of rose petals which sapped their momentum.

"Please stop fighting and just give up peacefully!" The young woman ordered in a tone which aligned more with the foreboding weapon and less with the unassuming girl.

The soldiers hesitated briefly, but then saw their captain reengage the other huntress which tipped the balance for them towards continuing the fight. Ruby lamented the foolishness of it all, including her own teammate who would not pause to offer a peaceable solution.

Maybe bemoaning the loss of a non-violent resolution was like crying over spilt milk. But still, Ruby felt that the way her teammate was acting was far more childish than even she could be accused of. She was more than willing to let Blake work the frustrations out of her system. But not at the expense of lives, or self-respect. She would have to prepare herself to talk with her wayward teammate sometime.

Now was not that time. The first potential assassin reached her, and she effortlessly disarmed the feral woman before knocking her down with a strike to the back of the head with the haft of _Crescent Rose_. Continuing her spin, she met the downward swing of an axe from a musclebound hippo. Not pausing to engage in a test of strength, she flowed underneath him, sweeping his legs out from the ground before pinning his ankle under her pommel, snapping the fragile bone with a minute amount of pressure.

She dispersed into another cloud of petals which were immediately torn up by the wall of bullets thrown at her, heedless of their comrades in the line of fire.

The scrawny rodent's hip-shots were abruptly cut off as his weapon was bisected in his hands. But before the Faunus himself could be dealt with, Ruby found herself defending the youth from the indifference of his teammate, putting herself between him and a scattershot aimed at disabling the both of them.

Ruby ground her teeth both from the pain of the exploding dust pellets nibbling at her Aura, as well as the shear ruthlessness of this White Fang hit squad. She pushed back against the reptilian Faunus, who discharged her last shot shell before flipping the weapon around and brandishing it like a club, ignoring the searing hot barrel which scorched her scaled palms.

She easily sliced through the already sawed-off shotgun, but was unprepared as the woman tackled her to the ground regardless of the massive scythe. The two tumbled on the ground as the woman held Ruby in her iron-clad grip and rolled the two of them back and forth viciously. Ruby found her arms pinned, unable to reach her weapon. And in the dizzying maneuver, it took her a precious few seconds to get her bearings.

She managed to finally scoot her knees into the alligator-Faunus's chest and break the vice-like hold, slamming her elbow into the woman's chin before drumming her with both feet in the stomach. And though she had been trying not to be too harsh on these misguided Faunus, she still kicked the woman's head like a soccer ball upon standing.

She toed _Crescent Rose_ back into her hands casually, blowing a stray lock of hair out of her face, realizing that she hadn't had a trim in a while. Then she looked over at the terrified rodent Faunus she had saved who was busy crawling away from her on hands and knees. She decided to let him be, as he was moving away from the battlefield. She looked instead to where Blake had already cornered the White Fang captain with her blade held at his throat. Ruby was about to come between the two, but decided to hold her tongue and trust her teammate.

"Why are so many of our species misguided?" The Captain ground out even as the blade scraped his chin. "Why can't you see that this is the only way to get anything done? Force must be answered with force."

"It's not about choosing whether or not to use force." Ignoring the 'misguided' remark, Blake thought back on her past, wondering where she had drawn the line. "It's about how and where you use it. You can either use your strength to protect others or oppress them."

"I _am_ protecting my people. But if you can't see that, there's no use arguing with you."

"I agree."

"So, I guess all that's left is for you to kill me-"

The man's Grimm mask went skittering along the cobblestones as the back of Blake's blade smacked him upside the head. His body slumped over unceremoniously, a lonely trickle of blood dribbling down from his temple onto the dirty ground.

"I agree. There's no use arguing. I'm not like you, and that's all there is to it."

Blake sighed, dissatisfied with the outcome. Action, inaction, violence, pacifism, it didn't seem to make a difference. Whatever their species did seemed to be the wrong thing, but some decisions were worse than others. Though she was restless and frustrated right now, she didn't want to make the same mistakes she had in the past.

And she especially didn't want to follow in Adam's footsteps.

She didn't know whether that personal vow made her any better than her White Fang kin, but at least it allowed her to sleep at night. And now that she was partnered with Naruto for the time being, she could feel like she was actively working towards something, instead of slaving an old wound.

Ruby watched the subtle play of emotions across Blake's face, partially grasping what her friend was going through. But still, much of it was a mystery she could not begin to comprehend. It was why she had been so conceding to the other's desires. She was reluctant to be separated yet again, but consoled by Naruto's reassuring words. But was she really acceding to it for Blake's benefit, or her own? Was a violent purge what Blake needed now, or a reality-check?

The two of them shared what both hoped was an expression of understanding, before turning to the other battle going on simultaneously on the other half of the square.

Qrow surprised himself and the others by mostly hanging back and letting Naruto do the fighting. The young huntsman seemed eager to expend his own pent-up energy on the crazed individual. And the scorpion-tailed man seemed just as keen to oblige.

The two exchanged strikes with their short blades at close range, with Naruto skirting in and out of his defenses like a lizard playfully probing the arachnid's range. The man looked equally giddy with his opponent, dramatically lunging at the bait he was given and effectively ignoring everything else.

But he was far from oblivious, as Qrow discovered after attempting to surprise the man from behind, only to be effortlessly countered by that annoyingly prehensile tail. So the elder huntsman once again decided to let the younger generation handle the hard work while he busied his mind trying to make heads or tails of the confusing confluence.

Naruto had gone in with an understanding that this wasn't one of the White Fang foot soldiers. So while he was eager to test his mettle against the skilled warrior, he was also cautiously holding himself back from attacking without a clear indication as to the extent of the man's abilities. It was a far cry from the way the 'other him' did things, but he didn't think 'he' would mind.

The man was able to keep up with both Naruto's strength and speed, which was an accomplishment in and of itself. He also moved in sporadic ways which mimicked his own instinctive style of fighting. The tail was admittedly proving difficult to account for, but he didn't want to unveil his semblance in the fight just yet, and instead watched the way the man moved as one might watch the waves, looking for a pattern in the set.

He found his break and dove in for it. But the man's eccentric movements proved to be a lure which Naruto took the bait to. He found his lunge at the man's left interrupted by a harsh kick to his face which sent him airborne. The man laughed maniacally as Naruto tumbled in air, helpless as a falling leaf which he aimed to skewer.

Little was he to know that Naruto was in his element in the air. A subtle grin and minute application of his Semblance at the right time was all it took for him to right himself and let the stinger pass harmlessly in front of his falling form. He did not give it the same free-pass, and took his tax by digging his puukko in between the armored segments.

The demented assassin cried out in pain and rage, flailing his tail about to try and dislodge the blond from his appendage, but only succeeded in ensconcing the blade further. In his desperation he tried slamming Naruto down into the stony ground, only to have the young man disperse in a cloud of vapor.

He looked around in a pain-fueled panic, watching the Naruto-colored gas as best he could. But even with his species-blessed night vision, he was unable to fully account for what he was seeing in the darkened landscape until it was upon him once again.

He barely managed to block the knife coming in for his shoulder blade. But his ocunter sliced through nothing but vapor once again. He loosed a frustrated cry as he flailed his tail back and forth erratically, disturbed air whooshing angrily around it like an angry ghost.

"Come out you little shit! Quit hiding and let me kill you!"

Naruto stifled the urge to yell out an arrogantly witty remark, and instead silently flew above the circling Faunus, who was lashing out at every shadow on the ground. He dropped from suspension right above the man, so close he could see his greasy hair.

"HA!"

The man suddenly yelled out as his dilated golden eyes shot up venomously at Naruto's falling form. The tail which shot across his body came short of hitting Naruto's descent, but from its sharpest point there spewed forth a violet spray of liquid which coated Naruto's upper body before he could turn to gas and avoid it. It soaked well into his punk-rock tee shirt and he could feel the vile concoction try and eat its way through his skin as well.

He didn't have long to ruminate on the effects of the toxin before the man tried again to physically score a hit. He somehow managed to avoid the blender of blades beneath his feet, alighting on the man's shoulders and hopping away before he could counteract the brazen assault.

Naruto pivoted around in a crouch to face back towards his adversary. He grimaced subtly as he realized the consequences of his foolishness. The venom which soaked his body was so caustic that it was actively eating away at his Aura. At the same time, he knew that he couldn't risk using his semblance without the poison contaminating him when he vaporized along with his clothes.

He didn't have long to come up with a solution before the man attacked him once again. He cursed as he was put on a defensive footing opposite the snapping blades of the scorpion Faunus.

Fortunately, it was then that Qrow decided to quit mucking about and step in. He placed himself and his blade in front of the path of the still powerful stinger, smirking slightly as he felt himself be pushed back by the ferocity of the oncoming attack.

"Why don't you tag out kid and let me handle this for a bit?" Taking no offense at the belittling tone, Naruto instead tore off his shirt and cast the contaminated garment aside, looking at the trace amounts on his arms and neck before replying.

"How about we take him together?" He carefully stretched his neck as if the whole previous engagement was just a warm-up.

"Fine," Qrow growled as he forced the Faunus back with a flex of his strength. "Just don't be too rough with him, it'd be nice to have him alive."

"Killjoy."

The man sneered at the two and their chipper banter which parodied his own. Internally he began reevaluating his fortunes. _She_ had warned him of the two, young huntsman, and had stressed the importance of attacking now while one of them was incapacitated. But he had failed to heed her warning. Though he was rightfully deserving of punishment, he would have to survive to receive it.

He took an unconscious step back, and Qrow predicted what was going on in the crazed man's head. He was about to call out to his younger partner when the man made a move to bolt in the opposite direction before he could get the first syllable out of his mouth. But the man only got two steps and was boxed in by a flurry of rose petals.

"Stay back Ruby!" Qrow changed his shout at the appearance of his niece.

"I'm just going to keep him from getting away." She insisted, rather than outright contradicting her uncle.

"Don't suppose you feel like telling us who you are and why you're here now?" Naruto questioned facetiously as he stepped up next to Qrow.

Before, the man would not have thought twice about toying with his pray, regaling them with theatrics that included numerous devotions to his goddess. But right now, he didn't feel like the apex predator. More like a cornered animal as his eyes darted back and forth, looking for a hole he could crawl into.

His eyes latched on to what he believed to be the weakest link. Before the killer Faunus could plow his way through Ruby, however, Naruto made a dash for the two of them. Activating his semblance half way and flying like a bullet at the two, he forcibly ignored the foul poison now in his blood.

Ruby had learned her lesson from the first scorpion she faced. Even though she was a lot stronger now than she was back then, it was always the proper application of strength which won or lost battles.

She waited until the man was almost upon her, his stinger hiding mostly behind his body and waiting to surprise her once she engaged his wrist-blades. She found the underestimation of her abilities humorous, but didn't celebrate prematurely. She cocked her weapon behind her and used a heavy-recoil round to boost her forward at the oncoming thresher.

The man halted suddenly and let his tail whip out over him, trying to pin her from above. But she had already known what was going to happen, and boosted again, shooting past the tail and sliding under his waiting arms. _Crescent Rose_ dragged behind her and hooked the man around the midsection as she stood up on the other side. She smirked as she saw Naruto fly at the both of them.

"Batter up…" She dug in her heels and instead of a swift slice, she heaved the blade and the man at her incoming comrade.

Naruto saw the man's eyes, wide for once with abject shock as he sailed towards him. He let himself drop out of suspension and begin to fall in a downward arc just as he came within striking range. His fist still clutching the puukko slammed into the man's horrified face, reflecting it back harshly into the ground.

"Yes! Homerun!" He pumped his fist as he touched down next to the thoroughly unconscious Faunus.

"Actually, that was more like a bunt..." Ruby said sheepishly as she walked up to the two, still keeping her eyes on the practically steaming body.

"Whatver. 'Least it's not me this time."

…

"So, did you find out where the guy was from?" Naruto asked, being the only one awake and brave enough when Qrow came arrived back at the safehouse, hours later.

"Hm? Oh, I already knew he was sent by Salem. His Name is Tyrian Callows, nasty bit of work." The man answered absently, lifting his weary eyes as he quietly shut the recently repaired door behind him Quietly, so as not to wake the rest of team RWBY that had hunkered down for the night in the parlor.

"Wha-!" Qrow held a single finger to his lips. "What do you mean you already know? What did you want to get from him, then?" Naruto finished off in a whisper, no less irked. He made it a point to stare at the elder huntsman's hands which were caked with blood that he obviously had not gained during the fight.

Qrow stopped and met the young man's gaze as he made his way to the kitchen for a nightcap. He then scanned the room's other occupants, lingering long enough on each to make sure that they all were well and truly asleep before answering.

"I try and gather intelligence on all of Salem's associates. I just wanted to make sure she didn't know about…" He flicked his eyes towards his raven-haired niece who had dozed off with her head propped up on an armrest. Naruto blinked once in the darkness before his own eyes lit up with understanding.

"And…?" He asked, afraid of the answer.

"No." Naruto allowed himself a sigh of relief, which he immediately stifled again with a palm over his mouth as next to him Ruby stirred with a quiet moan.

"…At least, not as far as I know." Qrow qualified once it seemed Ruby had drifted off back to deeper sleep. He rubbed his filthy hands, suddenly disconcerted by the blood on them which was so at odds with the perfect décor it felt like a desecration.

Naruto gave a nod of understanding which became hard to maintain as his eyes drooped down halfway through. He tried shaking himself to no avail as his eyelids became heavier and heavier. He hadn't been sleeping well for the past few nights, including the time he spent traipsing around the mental landscape with Ruby and Ozpin, and he was bushed. He tried to hold back a yawn, but only managed to smear it out over his face.

"Get some sleep kiddo. You guys earned it."

He wasn't even really awake enough to register the bonified compliment from the grizzled huntsman as the man whispered it like a lullaby before padding out of the room to get his own reward and well-deserved rest before the sun rose in a few hours.

Neither of them noticed the thinly-slit chatoyant eye which followed Qrow out of the room, and flicked over to watch Naruto as he succumbed at last to slumber. Afterwards, the amber gaze buttoned up once again, like it had never been uncovered, and buried itself back into the crook of the recliner, snuggling up like the content feline it belonged to.

….

" _He's dying, you know._ "

"I know."

" _And there's nothing you can do._ "

"…"

" _What? No denial? No admonishment for losing faith in your invincible friend?_ _I never knew you were so weak-willed Ruby Rose._ "

"I'm waiting for you to tell me the truth."

" _The truth? I've always told you the truth. I'm the only one who's ever told you the truth. Sasuke is dying. This world is eating away at him- has been for some time. Now he is so far gone that the pathetic mortal flesh is eating away at itself, sacrificing dead tissue so that the living may last a while longer."_

"You don't know that."

" _Of course I do, Little Rose. I was there when it was happening to Naruto. Back then, the effects were no more severe than the corrosion caused by oxygen. Hardly noticeable. But I felt them. I could have just waited, bided my time, but that fool had to go and sacrifice himself. And then you had to go and do the same."_

"But Naruto got a new body, and I got to keep mine. Why can't Sasuke be given the same chance?"

" _Not everyone is as special as you, Little Rose_. _"_

…..

"Welcome back, Neo."

The girl skipped up the steps to the bar, both eyes lit up pink along with the small smile on her face as she gave a shallow curtsy from one step below.

"I saw from your message earlier that you had accomplished your mission, but that you lost track of Raven. Were you able to pick up her trail again?"

The girl shook her head dejectedly, looking particularly distraught with her own performance. Part of Emerald wanted to leap from her seat and hug the young woman to console her. And part of her was disgusted by the slavish display. That side won out, and so stayed put.

"There, there, Neo, you did a fine job. We'll find Raven again and we'll get you another chance to kill her, okay?" Her words reached the young assassin who suddenly realized she could not act like a child any longer. She quickly wiped away the dampness and nodded smartly before turning on her heels. Before she could get far, however, Emerald called out to her once again.

"Just rest up and let me finish a few things here, and then we can go get ice cream. Does that sound good?"

Neo stopped and turned to face the older woman, trying not to let her read the obvious battle of emotions going on under the surface. Did Emerald enjoy playing with her like this? Was she even conscious of it? She gave a tight-lipped nod that was obviously forced, before quickly pirouetting and hastily exited before she could be recalled again. There was no skip in her step.

Neo was perhaps as conflicted as the green-haired woman. Even though she had only one voice in her head. Roman had been so much simpler in what he expected. But with Emerald, sometimes the woman acted like an elder sibling and eschewed the proprieties that came with being an infamous criminal. And at others, she was callous and business like, sooner to condemn than console.

She left a pile of bodies behind her, which would silently attest.

It made working under her hard, and tiring for all but her most devoted followers who feared and respected that chaotic disposition. No matter how much Neo wanted to obey Emerald, and even like her, she found her willingness constantly tested. She honestly preferred to be alone out on a mission. At least then she knew exactly who and what she was.

Emerald just shook her head amusedly at the retreating young woman. She laughed at the insanity, perhaps her own, perhaps Neo's. As she mused, another small form approached shyly.

"Lady Emerald?" She looked curiously over her shoulder as if she did not sense him approaching. The knobby stub of an arm staring down at him along with her demanding eyes.

"Umm, t-the report from Mistral has come in. T-the White Fang unit that you sent has been captured, and Tyrian Callows has been killed at the hands of Qrow Branwen."

"I see…" She turned in her stool to face the cowering teen face on, folding one leg casually over the other in a smooth action which contrasted the quivering mess in front of her. The boy, barely out of his pre-teens, had his tail tucked between his legs. Emerald would in fact be surprised if he hadn't wet himself like the cur he was.

"Well then, that's fine." She said, shrugging casually and turning back to her drink.

"I-it is?" The boy questioned disbelievingly, still expecting to combust into flames at any second.

"Of course." She briefly contemplated the last bit of pinkish liquid in her glass before letting it slide down her throat. She set the stemware carefully back on the bar without a sound. "I never expected the White Fang to survive their encounter with Tyrian, and it is a little disappointing that they didn't. But I did not think that Qrow Branwen had it in him to kill such a high-value target when he already had him captured. I guess he finally realized that some people are too dangerous to keep alive. In any case, he's out of the way, and that's one less pawn for Salem to maneuver."

She once again looked down at him over her shoulder. The flip side this time, with her one good arm in the picture she was like a completely different person as she offered him a sweet smile.

"Thank you for letting me know. Go into the back and let the staff know that I told you they should make you a nice, full meal."

"T-thank you Lady Emerald!" The scruffy tail was busy dusting the floor as the young lad skittered out and around the corner of the bar.

Emerald's smile soured slightly into a sneer as she turned back to the bar and flicked the edge of her cup, making the glass ring like a service bell.

"Give me another. And this time, try to put a little bit of alcohol in it, hmm?"

A contemptuous huff came as answer from the other side of the bar, but it was followed immediately afterwards by the reluctant clatter of bottles being taken down from the shelf.

"You know, I really don't get you. What is it that you want?" The gruff voice plodded over to her, the heavy footsteps echoing behind the counter.

"What I want right now is for you to make me a drink." She said in a dangerously coy tone. He was playing with fire, but he made his living on knowing how far he could push.

Further banter was blocked off as the ice and fruit went into the blender next to the booze. The pitcher was like a toy in his meaty paws as he poured out a glassy stream, adding the liquor to the cocktail glass that was equally silly pinched between his two sausage-like fingers. He set the drink down in front of the woman who was watching him work like a cat watching a canary.

"Here. Strawberry Sunrise." She picked it up delicately and took a small test of it, careful not to let the little umbrella shift her way. The bear of a man waited impatiently with his arms crossed over his broad chest.

"Not bad. Getting better." Came the verdict.

"I've only been at this the better part of two decades."

"One day you'll make a fine bartender, Junior."

The man harrumphed and went back to polishing the endless stream of glasses that cycled through his bar.

"I already know what I want to be, and I'm fine with that. The question is: what do you want out of life? What's your end goal here, besides taking over my humble establishment and creeping out my staff?"

"Oh Junior," She sighed dramatically, playing with the tiny umbrella in between her fingers. "I'm not trying to take over anything. The way you have things set up here just makes it very convenient for me, and I love stopping by for a visit. I just love how _wild_ this place can get."

Junior ignored the jab at his expense and set down his rag as well as the glass he was working on and leaned over the bar towards her.

"You know, I've had a lot of strange people come through my place. A lot of folks with a lot of different ideas floating around the fat in their heads. All kinds of creepy, every fetish you could imagine. Some that might have even gotten off on your gimpy little self." She bore the jibe at her imparity with a mouthful of razor-sharp teeth.

"Torchwhick was easy, like me. He knew what he wanted out of life and wasn't too greedy about getting it. Cinder was more ambitious and downright scary if I'm being honest, but I still got her too. Hell, I even understood that crazy blonde chick that made it a hobby of braking in here and asking for info on her long-lost mother. But you, I just don't get you. What's your endgame in all of this?"

"Hmm. Well, to be honest, I don't really have one." She took another experimental sip of her drink as if the scant time had given it a chance to improve. "But since you're putting me on the spot, I'd have to say it's to do what I want, when I want."

"Fat chance." Junior allowed himself a single laugh that he immediately regretted when the tiny umbrella burst into flames in her hands and he realized he had gone to far. But by now, the man was just about fed up. Fear was a dynamic state of mind, and he had been living with her hanging over his head for months now, and the novelty and fear of death had worn off. He decided there was no harm in continuing. No more, anyway.

"You can either own everything, or own nothing, if that's the way you want to go. That's what Cinder wanted, but she was also a control freak, and knew how to play people. If you want to do that, you have to be micromanaging things every single hour of every day, or get someone else to do it for you. Even then, you're going to be watching your back constantly."

Emerald frowned but turned back to her drink in contemplation, grinding the ash of the umbrella between her fingers and letting the black particles rain down into the brightly colored liquid.

"And if you just want to take things easy, like Roman did, then you're still going to have to be paranoid. It's less demanding perhaps than ruling an entire Kingdom, but being little has its disadvantages as well, as I'm sure you know.

"It's all the same, just different kinds of shackles."

Emerald sighed dramatically once again and flopped her head down onto her waiting arm.

"Why do you have to be such a spoilsport? Can't you have faith in me to do something no one has done before? I'm not just doing this for myself, I'm trying to change the world here."

"You're trying to cause chaos. Chaos is bad for business. I can't sell drinks when the currency doesn't mean anything."

"Is all you care about money?"

"I care about the world. The **real** world. I want to have my own little niche in life, and I'm willing to fight for it. But I know there are some lines you just don't cross. We all have to face the reality that sometimes we have to make compromises."

"Compromises…huh?" Emerald stared a long time into her drink while Junior made peace with himself, fully prepared for the woman to send him to the afterlife in the most painful way possible. He even inched towards his rocket launcher stashed underneath he counter. Not that it would do much good against her, but it might prove a swifter end than what she had planned.

But then she smiled brightly at him, and he was taken aback by the honesty and softness in her normally scathing eyes.

"Thanks Junior. You've given me a lot to think about, and I think I'm beginning to understand you a little better."

Before he could respond to this polar shift of temperament, the green-haired Maiden straightened in her seat and snapped her fingers in his direction.

The heat was surreal, because it came with no pain. Lights, orange and flickering, lapping at the edge of his vision even as they began to consume his beard and custom-made vest. His nerve endings were already gone by the time he realized his arm was on fire, and it was only after the flames began to spread to the rest of his body.

He threw himself onto the floor, writhing in fear more than hurt. The agony would come later, as he spent weeks recovering from third degree burns, and years trying to forget the ghost of his arm.

Emerald's lips twisted in a cruel smirk as she gazed at the growing inferno over the bar. She didn't lift a finger to stop the few goons who rushed to their boss's aid, too panicked to be terrified by her presence.

"Maybe now you can begin to understand _me_."

She looked back at her drink as her lips twisted in thought.

"Hmm, still too much juice."

She got up and turned her back to the shrill sounds of screams and the hiss of fire extinguishers going off as she walked across the dance floor and up to the double doors. She stopped before exiting The Club, stepping halfway through the cracked entrance before looking back at the scene which had turned damp and dismal.

"I don't need all that sugar, I'm sweet enough."


	16. Occurance on the Border

**Hey hey! I am back with the promised chapter, and just letting you guys know that others are currently in the works and should be ready in time for my usual update next week. Thanks to everyone of you who reviewed, sorry if I didn't get to personally answering them much this week, it's been hellishly busy despite the supposed holiday. But just so no one gets their panties in a know, here's a shoutout:**

 **catze68** **, glad to have you here, you've been here pretty much from the beginning and I haven't forgotten about you!**

 **Same goes for you, SolidSamurai233, still some of my most dedicated support group!**

 **Juvia Lockstar** **I hope this chapter answers your question, didn't want to give away too many spoilers!**

 **And way back when Guest asked a question about the Omake. Yeah, not cannon. If you decided to continue this becomes obvious. But, we are nearing the end of this story, and there's no way I can remain idle for long! May be a series of one-shots coming out soon for polling purposes, deciding which gets its own feature-length debut. **

**Anyway, that's all folks. Here's to 2017 going out on a little bit better note.**

* * *

"Unless you're here to release me, I got nothing to say to you, kid."

Naruto stepped cautiously into the antiquated cell, immediately taken aback by the Draconian furnishing. The prisoner himself now sported many more injuries than when he had been brought in. His frown deepened, but he didn't dare comment on what was surely Qrow's handiwork.

"I don't want to torture you." The ex-White Fang captain huffed derisively, a slight whistle from his crooked nose as he drew another breath.

"You think that refusing to torture me makes you good? Makes you any better than that rabid human huntsman? You're a traitor to your kind. All other crimes pale in comparison."

Naruto paused as he walked over to the Faunus in the center of the room who had his hands tied to a pole behind his back. He thought about what this accusation really meant for him. He looked at the man's hooved feet, forced to crouch painfully on the floor, and he imagined his own animal traits, swiveling autonomously on top of his head, picking up every tiny echo in the room. He had never considered it before, the fact that he now belonged to this phylum of social outcasts, that he had an entire support group willing and waiting for his call.

"You're not my kind."

He decided at last. Even though this newfound part of him identified as Faunus as a concept, the ideology that went with that didn't account for their actions. They were two, very different, individuals.

"I'm not a good guy." Not compared to his former self. "But I'm not like you. I don't go after people based on how they look, just how they act. I don't murder people in their sleep, and I certainly don't blindly follow orders from psychopaths."

"You know nothing, kid." There was no animosity in the man's voice, only bitter weariness of someone who had clearly never been a father.

"I know who I am, and what I stand for." Naruto declared as he unsheathed one of his puukko and approached the bound man. The captain's eyes widened before a grim acceptance set in.

*Schlack*

And like that, the man was unbound, not from the mortal coils like he anticipated, but from the rough hemp rope keeping him in place for the past 18 hours. His legs were weak and collapsed underneath him as he tried to stand up. Naruto caught him by his arm and he nearly cried out in pain for the strained joint. Naruto quickly shifted his grip to around the man's waist, before lowering him to the ground.

"What…are you doing?" He ground out past clenched teeth.

"The question is:" Naruto began as he set the man to repose against the wooden pillar which had kept him in that debilitating position for hours on end. He took a knee in front of the man as he looked him in the eye, waiting until the pain died down and that spark of focus to return to his captive audience. "What are you going to do now? You have information that my friends and I want. We want it desperately, but … It isn't worth this." He gestured disgustedly to the torture implement.

The man was contemplative and silent, wary of a ploy as he gently rubbed the raw flesh around his wrists.

"You really don't know anything about this, do ya? Do you expect me to believe you're going to let me go if I tell you what you want to know?"

"No." Naruto said matter-of-factly as he allowed a small smile to grace his features, subdued in the poor light from the room's only window. "I'm letting you go regardless. I just wanted to give you a chance to tell me what I want to know."

The man's eyes narrowed as if he could not focus in that scant light, but it made no difference to the expression of candor. He began to laugh, almost hysterically as he realized that this must be an especially cruel form of punishment. Why else would such a good actor be sent to work on him?

"Right," He huffed as the laughter died down, looking back at the smile which had dipped in real disappointment, and he caught himself tempted to trust it. "You really think I'm going to believe that? What's really in it for you?"

"If you tell me, it'll help my friends and comrades along with many others. If you don't…" Naruto shrugged. "…at least I won't be a traitor. To my friends, or myself."

The captain stared at the boy meeting him on eye level, chewing on his tongue in thought as he worked his numb hooves, trying to regain some feeling from the knees down.

"And if I happen to come after you guys again?"

"I'll kill you." The man eyed the boy's long knife which had never left his hand, but which had suddenly become the focus of attention as the concentrated beam of light glinted off its polished surface. It reflected into his sapphire eyes, steely blue and sharp and continuing to bear forth the genuine thoughts of his fellow Faunus. He felt the fur on his ankles and head stand on end.

"Why?" He asked finally.

Naruto looked down at his blade, wondering perhaps how to respond, or maybe how many people would have to suffer under its edge before he was done. The answers could have been the same.

"You think of me as a Faunus. A traitor. I think of myself as a person, regardless of distinctions like that. Who I am may have changed since before, but I still stand by the things and the people I hold dear." He closed his eyes and slowly sheathed the glimmering blade. "I still like to believe in the best in people, that no one is truly evil." He laughed hollowly. "Maybe that makes me naïve, but that's the only person I know how to be."

He stood up and turned his back on the captive, walking slowly to the unbolted door. He paused and looked back with his hand on the cold metal portal.

"Don't worry about the Mistralian authorities, they're a bit busy right now. None of you managed to kill anyone. Take your comrades, and go home." He began to disappear into the even darker hallway.

"Wait." Naruto paused, his unruly hair still poking halfway into the cell.

"You're Naruto Uzumaki, right? She said you'd be here. She said to be wary of you, that you fight like a monster." He admitted, perhaps to himself as he finally realized who he was dealing with was not just some childish brat.

A guttural sound came from the young man in the doorway. It might have been a laugh, but could also just as easily been a sound of resignation.

"She also said… that you were a good person." Naruto turned back, and it was his turn to be met with a look of forthrightness. The scraggly blond eyebrow cocked over quizzically twinkling eyes.

"That…other Faunus…" The man began, slowly standing up straight on still wobbly legs, hooves slick on the stone floor. "The monstrous one. He's dead, isn't he? I heard the screams from the next cell over, last night."

"Yes." Naruto nodded, turning his face away again so the man could not see what was written there.

"Did you- no. Never mind. It doesn't matter." He sighed scratching the unkempt goatee on his face. "I hope you understand, some people deserve to die. People like that…"

He looked up to the empty doorway.

….

She looked up at the moon. It would take a lifetime to count all its multitude of fragments. Another hundred to put them back in their place.

It seemed like an easy task compared to the life they lead.

The day had been long and tedious, going over the recently gathered intelligence and deciding on a plan of action. Qrow and Naruto had butted heads over something they declined to share with the rest of them. Maybe that's what solidified her decision.

"Hey Blake."

"…That's pretty impressive Ruby. I didn't know you could sense me that well."

Ruby smiled sadly to herself knowing that it wasn't just due to her training. The whispers in her head were finally proving useful.

"What did you want to talk about?"

The Faunus questioned as she padded silently over to her captain. Ruby had intimated a desire to say a few things, parting remarks she could only assume, before she, Naruto and Qrow departed from the rest. Blake was sure she would miss her teammates terribly, but what could be said beyond the long goodbyes tomorrow? She had no idea.

"Why do you want to run away from us?"

She heaved a heavy sigh, contemplating just leaving her leader to stare alone at the moon. She had expected her to be more understanding after all they had been through, but this childish petulance was wearisome to her already labored conscience.

"I'm not running away, Ruby. I'm just going with Naruto and Qrow because they need someone to take Sasuke's place."

"No, you're doing it because you don't want to be left out." Ruby turned to her, and Blake was taken aback by the ethereal glow in her silver eyes. "Because you don't want to feel useless. Because you don't want to feel alone."

These statements further startled Blake, she had buried these fears so deep that this adept summation was a surprise even for her. It was scary, confronting those words at last. She took a step back, seeking a physical barrier between herself and the proclamation, as if the idea itself would burn her. But Ruby quickly reached out and grabbed her hand, preventing her from running away.

"Blake, I know you probably don't think I do, but I understand." The young woman squeezed her friend's hands gently and looked down in her own little moment of shame, before she overcame it for the benefit of her friend.

"I understand. I know the feeling of being useless. That's why I've been training so hard. But training, fighting, that's not the hard part. The hard part is sitting on the sidelines. The hard part is being strong, being dependable and unchanging. Doing the right thing… it's not always easy."

"Ruby," Blake pleaded, breaking away from the gentle restraint. Ruby let her go, and she walked a few paces into the waxing moonlight. "You can't tell me that you're okay with this, either. You can't say that you just want to keep doing these useless tasks for the headmasters." She spun around with both anger and hurt in her eyes. "They speak words of war to us, but treat us like children while putting the burden all on **those two**! Why? They think we can't handle it, and they can because they're already broken?"

Ruby remained patiently quiet as her friend said her piece, divesting herself of her unspoken frustrations that she had swallowed for months on end while the others were allowed to have their tantrums. Blake's anger seemed to dissipate, but was taken up by hopelessness and sorrow. She wrapped her arms around herself, suddenly aware of the bitter highland chill.

"Well, guess what? Some of us are tired of doing nothing but sitting on the sidelines, accomplishing nothing. Some of us are broken too."

Ruby let the hand which was reaching out to comfort her friend drop by her side. Was she broken too? So much had happened, so much she had yet to reconcile that she had never asked herself this question. Was she like the moon, waiting inexorably to drift apart and burn up under the intensity of her own race to the center?

"No."

"Huh?"

"Nope. You're not broken Blake. None of us are." Ruby declared resolutely as she walked over to her teammate who flinched slightly at the blatant refutation.

"We're all just a little lost. It happens from time to time. But you know what, Blake?" Ruby snaked her arm around her friend, directing both of their gazes back up to the moon which seemed to take up the entire sky.

"What?"

"At least we're lost together."

The dark-haired woman just stared back down at the beaming face of her captain, beautifully pale in the silvery moonlight. It was like a portrait, she decided, on a postcard sent from a far-off place, reminding her someone was still thinking about her.

"We'll find our way. Just you see."

"Do you really believe that, Ruby?" She already knew the answer, but had to ask anyway.

"Mm-hm." The young woman turned into her friend, fully embracing her and burying her head in her shoulder.

"I know we will, Blake. Just hold out a little longer. Please don't go rushing off trying to get yourself killed."

Blake felt a hint of moistness soak into her linen shirt, and she chastised herself for her selfishness. She had tried to convince herself that she was leaving them for the sake of Naruto and Sasuke. The tacit debt she owed them absolved her of the pain it would inflict. But her own personal vendettas, her violent discontent with the apparent status quo was her true motivator, and it was an egocentric desire that plowed over everything else.

It wasn't worth it.

"I promise, Ruby." Blake returned the embrace as the thick canopy of tropical trees swathed the two in silence.

"I-uh, hope I'm not interrupting anything…"

The two both squeaked in surprise and leapt at the unexpected introduction of a third voice in their midst. Speaking of the devil, the only way it could have been more shocking is if it had been Sasuke standing there with his characteristically bored expression.

"Naruto!" Ruby chastised, the young man shrinking under her admonishment. "What are you doing here?"

"You know, it's normally 'curiosity killed the _cat'_." Blake intoned dangerously, her ears flat against her frizzy black hair.

"I'm sorry!" He recoiled backwards, protecting himself futilely with his hands which would do nothing even to the unarmed female wrath, if they so decided to exercise it.

Ruby sighed, forgoing her irritation.

"What's up Naruto?"

"Well…" He peaked out behind his hands, lowering himself back down as he answered. "I just thought you guys'd like to know there's been a change of plans."

They both looked at him with intrigue. He gave the two a mischievous grin in return, no longer afraid of the physical repercussions now that he had them hooked.

"We got a lead. We're headed back to Vale."

…

Qrow allowed himself a cautious smile as he looked down at the topographic map on his scroll, his eyes tracing the brilliant red dot as it crawled through the tangle of lines like ant crawling over a spiderweb. It was reassuring to see the tracker moving. But it was better still to receive constant updates from the Atlas observation plane with its optics that could see you picking your nose from 21,000 meters up. The military craft, along with their own cargo vessel were tailing their 'escaped' Faunus, minimizing the chance of any trickery.

It might be overkill, but he was not as trusting as Naruto was. And considering it had been the kid who planted the tracker before releasing the captives, he figured he was justifiably cautious.

Speaking of, he glanced up from the device to look across the cargo bay at Naruto who was doing nothing to hide his troubled thoughts from playing across his face in a one-sided argument.

A few hours ago, it was just the opposite.

Qrow found himself dissatisfied with what seemed to be becoming a disturbing trend of bad attitude in Naruto. This outlook was at odds with the minor victory the boy had won, getting to do things his way. Qrow too may have gotten what he wanted in the end, but he wasn't as petty as to require the last laugh. This wasn't a laughing matter to begin with.

"So, just curious… where the fuck _do_ you draw the line?" Naruto shot the man a withering glare at the deliberately inflammatory question, an extension of their previous argument. But Qrow was not affected, this stare was not nearly as deadly as his others, blunted by the web of thoughts in the way.

"I genuinely want to know. You seemed to have had no problem with killing before. Don't tell me it's because they're Faunus?" The man arched an accusatory eyebrow as if briefly entertaining this possibility.

"Fuck you, old man." Naruto bit out half-heartedly, adding almost as an afterthought. "Where the hell do _you_ draw the line? You seem perfectly willing to go after easy prey. Really living up to your opportunist name _Crow_."

Naruto had only ever called him by his name a handful of times before, so the man could clearly tell he'd struck a nerve. But this was an inoculation that needed to be performed, and he expected a reaction to the deliberate poke.

"Hey, you should fear an old man in a profession were people die young- _and I'm not that old_!" Qrow folded his arms, pocketing his scroll he was doing his best not to glance at every five seconds. "So what if I take advantage of the situation? Weren't you like, a soldier for hire?"

Contrary to the emotional response he'd been expecting, Naruto seemed to shrink in on himself as if asking another part of his psyche that same question.

"Not anymore." But there was no commitment in the qualification, and Qrow rolled his eyes at the drama.

He felt like he'd been far too patient already. He didn't want to play a baby-sitter to some pubescent brat, and especially not one suffering from a second bout of growing pains. He certainly didn't want to end up as a father-figure to the clearly displaced young man. But he'd exhausted his usual means, and he was stuck with the situation he'd partly helped precipitate.

"Look, you don't want to kill people, that's fine. Smarter if you don't have a problem with it, but at least stick by your guns and decide which it's going to be."

"Do you have any idea how hard it is?" Naruto muttered darkly, an undulating wind kicking up around him unconsciously in the otherwise still cargo hold. "Do you have any possible conception what it's like to rectify who I am with who I was? Another person who didn't even understand the term _rectify_ and this person I'm supposed to be now? How am I supposed to be okay with it?!"

Qrow narrowed his eyes as a few leaflets listing the cargo boxes' manifests were torn from their staples with a sudden gust of wind in the sealed room. If he had to forcefully pacify the blond in a pressurized chamber, things might get ugly.

"It's called being a teenager, kid. Get used to it. The real question is: who are you now, and what are you going to do with the information you've been given?" Naruto's hands dug deep into the wooden crate he was sitting on, the cracking wood like a fire dwarfing the whistling breeze that was growing in intensity. But he kept sitting.

"I get that, but it's not that simple!" He growled past clenched teeth. "I can't just up and decide to forget the parts of me that I don't like. If I do, I'll be erasing that history. I might… I might be the only one left to remember them…" Whatever burgeoning tears there might have been were too quickly dried by the wind being funneled by his rapidly morphing dermal cells.

Despite the growing danger, Qrow found himself partly relaxing as he was finally provided with the complete puzzle. He was, in fact, relieved to know it wasn't as simple as crisis of identity. He always expected more resilience from the unpredictable blond.

"Kid, let me tell you something. You can only live for yourself. You can't dwell on the 'what might have beens' and you can't blame yourself for what's happening to your friend." Naruto looked ready to protest-violently perhaps, but as Qrow deliberately but unhurriedly crossed the cargo hold's expanse and took a seat next to the living natural wonder, he seemed to realize what he was doing and reigned in control of his semblance.

"I've heard the full tale. I understand how you want to blame yourself for getting both of you here, but you must realize that it's his fault too. This version of you seems to be smarter than the nitwit you were before, so you must understand that." Naruto ignored the shot at what was essentially himself, admitting both truths reluctantly.

"Besides, you can't reverse it, can't go back. So what's the point in dwelling over it? I know it's not as simple as just telling you to let go and 'poof' it's done." Qrow let out a wry chuckle as he kicked back against the bulkhead. "Believe me, I understand that. And normally I'd say take all the time you need, but we don't exactly have that luxury right now."

"But I can't just let go of the past," even if it only felt like his own half the time. It was still Sasuke's history too. And that story looked like it might just fade away. He shook his head

"It's not even like I _want_ to go back anymore." That was something he'd had a hard time merely saying out loud, to do so was blasphemous desecration to everything he had stood for. "But still, how am I just supposed to let go of it?"

The past was gift that he was given. He didn't want it, nor had asked for it. But did he not owe that other Naruto who'd brought him here? Sure, he might have resented the brat for a while. But ultimately, was he not satisfied, nay happy with his lot in life? It wasn't his place to slaughter that white elephant.

"This world we call Remnant," Qrow began wistfully, "we call because it's only a fraction of what it once was. If we could remember everything that happened up until this point, we probably wouldn't be in the mess we're in." He unclasped his hands from behind his head and turned to face Naruto who had become as still as to be one with the cold cargo hold. "I'm not asking you to forget. Don't forget. You've been given a gift, a resource. Use it to your benefit to create the best of the situation you have now. But no matter what you decide, make sure you stick to it. That's one thing your predecessor- that's one thing **you've** always done right. Don't make me take that point away from you."

He saw the wry smile on Naruto's face as he glanced at the man out of the corner of his eye.

"And don't worry about the other brat." Qrow insisted as he gave the young man a hearty slap on the back which Naruto glared at but secretly lauded. "He'll pull through. I don't think I've ever met brats as tough as you two. Well, bar one…" With that thought, he quickly got up before the conversation turned too sappy. Heaven forbid Naruto actually **thank** him.

He walked over to the steep staircase which lead to the rest of the cargo vessel, cupping his hands over his mouth.

"Hey! Are you girls finished up there?! Some of us actually need to piss down here!"

A disgruntled female voice echoed down the metal gangway before being joined by an equally irate-looking Yang who managed to balance a towel wrapped around her head while poking it upside-down into the hold.

"Hold your horses, Uncle Qrow! You were the one so damn eager to pack up and leave without giving us a chance to clean up first. If we have to make do with this broom closet of a bathroom, you are just going to have to wait!"

"Jeeze, don't get your curls in a tangle. Why is it that you women always take forever to get ready?" He asked sarcastically, running fingers through his fussed bedhead. The action his male equivalent of morning ablutions.

He was met with a damp towel which slapped him across the face, sending icy droplets spraying out into the unheated room. He gagged on the toxic cocktail of floral hair products and military-grade detergent soap as he tried to pry the solid mass off before he suffocated.

"Tch. Some people just can't take a joke. Right, kid? …Kid?"

Qrow turned around, dropping the quickly crystalizing towel before his hands became stuck to it. He was met with more silence than usual, the only sound the ambient noise of the engines humming mutely through the well-loaded chamber. He whipped back around when the telltale squeak of poorly lubricated metal alerted him to someone closing the hatch which joined the two compartments. He rushed up the ladder, but by the time his hand reached the icy wheel, it had already been locked from the other side.

"Son of a…" He pounded on the thick door, the deadened thump letting him know his efforts were useless.

He sighed and hopped down off the ladder, gazing around the dark enclosed space, for what he wasn't quite sure. He rubbed his shirt-sleeved arms absently, noting for the first time the abject cold of the non-habitable area of the craft.

He blamed the boy's vindictive action on his semblance of bad-luck. It never occurred to him that this was just retribution for being an asshole.

"Damnit. Now I really do have to piss…"

…..

The phone call he had been waiting for had been 36 hours ago. From then until now, he had been going nonstop to prepare for the delivery. The sleep that he had been missing for weeks on end would have to be postponed, once again.

But as Ironwood stood now in front of the culmination of many hours of his own work, the apotheosis of the lifetimes of many others, he could say for himself that it was worth it. Or, at least, it would be if it worked.

Ozpin hadn't gotten to try them out on Amber, so there was still some speculation whether or not it would work. Furthermore, the case they were dealing with was far outside of their predicted parameters. Which was saying something, considering the magical beings the machine had been intended for.

And at the same time, they had experience working with the materials. Well, most of them anyway.

"Dr. Polendina, thank you very much for accommodating us on such short notice."

"Nonsense, nonsense." The man brushed off the gratitude as he pushed a covered gurney with an eagerness bred vigor which pushed past his frail body. "You have given me yet _another_ chance of a lifetime. The least I can do is provide some of my surplus resources."

He wheeled the cart over to one of two identical chambers, the glass lid already popped open and the padded receptacle eager for its charge. The decrepit old man was so excited that he tried hefting the gurney's contents into position, sheet and all. It was obvious he was struggling, and other staff in white jumpsuits rushed over to help him.

"Please Doctor, let the technicians take care of that." The general intoned, taking a step towards the scene in case he had to take care of the manual labor himself. The doctor scoffed in derision of both the offer and his feeble body.

Before he could get any closer to the over-packed setup, however, a slender form waltzed past him and up to the growing crowd who were still putting an effort into positioning their heavy payload.

"Please allow me, father." The orange-haired intruder effortlessly brushed past the full-grown adults and plucked the limp form from their grasp, placing it gently, almost lovingly into the plush interior.

Once sure that it wasn't going anywhere, she turned gracefully and led the huffing old scientist out of the way of the sterilized technicians who went about making sure nothing had been harmed in the effort.

"You brought your…daughter along." Ironwood stated cautiously, not trusting his fatigued-addled brain to say what he wanted it to. "Hello again, Penny."

"Hello General!" If the android had noticed any hesitance, she ignored it. But her creator did not, and huffed, partly out of offense and partly to regain his labored breath.

"Of course I did. It **was** hers to begin with, you know."

"Yes. I know. Forgive me, I meant no offense." Ironwood apologized as the three of them watched hasty preparations being made, frenetic but restrained action whirling all around them like an oddly scored ballet.

"None taken. Right Penny?" Polendina smiled softly, nodding to his daughter who expressed her opinion with her standard zeal.

The robotic girl could not stay mad for any stretch of time. And right now, neither could the good doctor who was far too excited to be brought down by a careless remark.

"When is the subject due to arrive?" The hunchbacked old man looked up to the stalwart officer.

"He should be here-" A low beep intoned near the man's waist, cutting off what he was about to say. "-now. They'll be transferring him in from the Northside docks due to the sudden stormfront making approach from the East impossible." Poledina nodded, calculating that they had a few minutes to kill as the medical team wove their way through the maze of hallways in the military instillation.

"It's a miracle that you were able to recover the apparatus from the ruins." He chatted idly, graying but still hawkish eyes roaming over the stainless-steel surface from behind the thick coke bottle glasses.

"Actually, we have the headmaster of Beacon to thank for that." Ironwood chuckled, recalling the awkward verbal exchange when he was bequeathed the provisional 'gift'.

"Oh? Well then, it is quite the coincidence that the first subject is going to be a student from there, hm?" The man stated coyly to the military officer who narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "Do not worry, James. I deduced it on my own after Penny told me of her recent encounters with the young man. Your security echelons are intact."

"I am very happy that I was able to be of assistance." The girl in question piped up before Ironwood had a chance at rebuttal. "I hope that he will find the accommodations adequate." She said with just a hint of shyness.

Her father took notice of this downward inflection, and his eyes lit up in joy at seeing yet another novel paradigm in his artificial daughter.

"There, there Penny. I'm sure he will be quite satisfied." He padded the girl on the back and she beamed back at him. He leaned over to address the general. "It may be an older model, but I made some modifications to it. Mostly internal, for the sake of function. I didn't have much time to change the external features to suit the new owner's preference."

"That's perfectly alright." The man assured, watching out the corner of his eye to see down the tiny windows in the long sets of double doors leading down the hall. "We should have ample time for modifications while he is getting adjusted. Besides, I suspect he's the type of person to prefer function over looks."

Of course, none of them wanted to dwell on the possibility that the whole thing wouldn't work, and this back and worth would be moot.

In any case, it was time to find out.

The pale-blue double doors opened automatically with the approach of the gurney, the staff manning it jogging along at a conservative pace. They wheeled it in past the general and his entourage, quickly and professionally getting to work setting it up opposite to the one already in place. Watching this professional medical team work was a far cry from the bumbling efforts of the technical staff and scientist as they swiftly plucked their living charge from his prone position and whisked him into the pod. The door quickly shutting behind their lingering, gloved hands with a hiss of pneumatics and cryogenic steam.

"Well, shall we adjourn to the observation room?" The general waved his own gloved hand over to the only other doorway, thick glass on the outside showing an equally crowded control room inside filled with silent but feverish conversation.

"Very well." The doctor sighed glibly, knowing that the measurements he wanted to see would be available in there.

The other two followed the general's deep, but deliberately slow stride to the isolated room. But Penny paused along the way, falling out of step with her creator and commanding officer to glance back at the strange engine, still being prepped by masked and suited staff with clipboards and electronics, running down the final checklist. One would think they were off to explore a new world.

In a way, they were. Like with here creation, they were reaching out past what they might be able to grasp. No respectable scientist wanted to gamble with a human life, but at this point that discussion was irrelevant, considering the alternative.

She looked at the two mirrored chambers in their living state of imbalance. Soon the scales would be tipped, and that state reversed.

"Good luck, Sasuke."

….

He awoke with a start.

No, that's not quite correct. He opened his eyes, and he was instantly awake and aware, sensing things with an alacrity he had never managed to accomplish, even after years of honing his vigilant sleeping habits. In contrast, the rest of his body moved, if not sluggishly, then stiffly, robotically. He bumped into a nearby tray when he tried to sit up, spilling unrecognizable surgical tools across the floor.

"Easy there, son!" An age-riddled voice placated him, gentle hands which tried to get him to lie down barely registering against his shoulder.

It was strange. The closest he could come to describing it would be 'numb', but his senses weren't dulled in the slightest. In fact, he could apparently detect and even quantify the pressure being applied to his body by the hand, the bed, even the atmospheric pressure in the room. But it was detached, emanating from discreet points like his chakra nodes along his body and not continuously along the length of his skin like he was used to.

He blinked, adjusting to the light which increased on a sliding scale.

"Light Sensors, Human Spectrum optimal. Lens response optimal." An electronically distorted voice intoned from the corner of the room.

That was an understatement. He was an Uchiha, their eyesight was obligated to be the best.

"Initial systems diagnostics nominal."

"They certainly have a knack for stating the obvious." He grumbled. Or, he tried to, as it came out exceedingly flat and failed to resonate in his chest. The same old man who 'forced' him to lie down chuckled.

"Yes, I'm afraid that's the extent of its abilities, though. That's why I'm here, sometimes it takes a human touch to get a proper reading." The old man placed a hand on his lumbar as he stood up from his stoop, placing the last spilled instrument back on the metal tray, his eyes lingering on the blade longingly. "This is, after all, more of an art form at this point. And more of a dark art, at that…"

He said the last part to himself, meant to, at least, but Sasuke heard it loud and clear. He mulled over what the old doctor could possibly mean. The whole thing was surreal. Surreal, because there was no other word for it. It felt natural, as if he'd consented in a dream to wake up in this foreign place with strangers hovering over him.

But he soon grew impatient with being kept waiting while the old man puttered about. He ignored the previous warning and sat up abruptly- that was the only way he seemed capable of doing things- abruptly, before he hopped off the otherwise unremarkable hospital bed.

His feet hit the floor hard, and he lost balance for a microsecond, almost slipping on the cold tile floor before instinct took over and leveled him out. Only, it wasn't quite _his_ instinct. His made him stumble, but the instant he'd felt surprise he'd relinquished control to another entity which resided in unknown regions of his body. Or perhaps it was his body. He stared at his feet, spiderweb cracks peeking out between his wiggling toes.

"They never want to take it easy…" The doctor sighed and shook his head. But behind this weary expression there was a clear smile of a sort Sasuke couldn't quite place. Whatever it was, it was endearing. "Say 'Ah', please."

"Ah." Sasuke obeyed the cliché phrase automatically, and even more flatly than usual. The doctor frowned, though, and held a wrinkled finger under his chin.

"I'm going to need you to look up, if you would." Sasuke stopped staring at his feet and obeyed now the doctor's implicit instructions, opening his mouth for the gloved hand which invaded deeply, probing unseen regions of his throat. After an inordinate amount of time in which he achieved his lifetime quota for the taste of latex, the hand retracted and he was free to speak again.

"Doctor."

"Please, my name is Poledina. You can call me 'Paul' if you like."

"Poledina." Sasuke recited back without the usual hampering which came with foreign names.

"Yes."

"Why are my feet covered in metal?"

"They are not. They are composed of a polycarbonate alloy casing overlaying an intricate network of bio-pneumatic ducting and a carbon-fiber skeletal frame."

"Ah. I see."

"You…do?"

"Yes."

He stretched his legs back and forth, getting used to the 'new' feeling, which already rested innately in a pre-programmed subroutine. In fact, once he realized it was there, it was a simple matter to call up the rest of the schematics on his body and run through the lists in the time it took for the good doctor to adjust his glasses.

"You seem to be taking the transition rather well." Polendina commented obviously, but Sasuke found no reason for any contrition above a curt nod.

"It would explain why I have not been breathing since I woke up."

"Yes, well, I suppose so."

Sasuke couldn't tell anyone why he was so casual about this monumental reveal. Other than a few 'growing-pains', the whole thing felt right. Or, at least a hell of a lot better than he knew he should be feeling.

"Do you…" Sasuke began, searching outside of his electronic RAM for any of the human memories that had accompanied the switch.

"Yes? Do I what, Sasuske?" Polendina leaned in to the android young man whose baseline expression took a dip.

"Do you know why I am here? I cannot seem to recall." The missing memory was the first thing to bug him since he 'came online'.

"Yes, I do. But I believe to properly answer that, we need to take a trip. I believe you are up to walking?"

…

Sasuke was partly relieved to know that he could experience emotions. But it was regretful they all had to be negative ones. Then again, maybe that was all his previous body contained, in which case he would just have to discover new, more pleasant ones on his own.

In any case, as he stared at 'his' body in the cryogenic chamber, he was left with a distinctly hollow and confused feeling which he was unable to express with his yet-untested systems.

"You were- are, dying, Sasuke. When we brought you here, you were in a self-induced coma as your body began to shut down, while the rest went on overdrive trying to repair the invisible damage which was occurring." Polendina watched the boy carefully along with Ironwood and Penny who had accompanied him after exiting the inspection room.

"You knew of this, though. And before you were mentally unfit to do so, you asked the general for this solution that the two of you came up with in secret. That in the event which your body would degrade past the point of no return, we would attempt to switch your mind into a new container using the Aura-transfer machine developed by then Headmaster Ozpin." The doctor sighed, removing his thick glasses and gently rubbing them with a fine cloth pinched between thumb and forefinger. "We weren't really sure it was going to work, but you were insistent we try."

He recognized the machine. He remembered most of what the man told him including the deal he made with the General. Although, he couldn't quite be sure he didn't invent the memory as a mental defense against the unacceptable alternative- that the general and his staff unwillingly experimented on him.

But he could come to terms with it, as he could come to terms with the missing memories leading up to his incapacitation.

What he couldn't shake, and what would absolutely stay with him for as long as he was incarcerated in this artificial body, was the discontented look etched onto his human form. He did not know what else he should have expected, but even if his face were twisted in pain from his dying body or the transfer process, he would have felt better. This person was surely an angry ghost, forced to haunt his memories until he finished what it started. The vibrating motors in his body mimicked a shiver.

"We are keeping your body in cryogenic storage so that we can continue to work on a cure." Polendina placated in a voice that already knew it would be ineffectual. "There is some hope that this will be possible. We've studied the effects of Aura transfer on human subjects between other living vessels, and while these tests do not bode well, there is a slight chance that because this is an artificial body, we may be able to reverse the process."

Sasuke nodded, not really understanding, nor actually caring about that little detail. What use to him was a flawed body? This one was not yet ideal, but based on the diagrams he had access to, there was room for upgrade.

"However, there _is_ something that you should know," General Ironwood spoke up after a long pause in which Polendina seemed to struggle to find words. Sasuke didn't look at either of them as behind his back the doctor conceded the floor to the younger man.

"The machine is meant for Aura transfer, and specifically attuned to the kind in our world. While there is no doubt you have a soul, there was considerable doubt if it would work considering whatever is degrading your biological body might also inhibit the transfer process of your spiritual being."

"But it worked." Sasuke spoke deadly, continuing to look at his rigor-mortis body unblinkingly.

Ironwood coughed into his hand, himself now seemingly reluctant.

"Well, yes. It seems to." He shoved the hand behind him where it became locked in the vice grip of his mechanical appendage. There would be no more distraction.

"Seems to."

"There is a possibility that your soul _didn't_ get transferred, and continues to remain in the other body. We don't know if this personality which is speaking with us is still Sasuke Uchiha, or simply an imprint of him based on the biological data copied over from the machine."

If only his stiff could talk. But it would be absurd, not to mention useless, to unfreeze him if there were the slightest chance of this being true.

"Doesn't matter."

Sasuke spoke after an uncomfortable pause in which the human adults fidgeted. They both looked at one another, trying to ascertain if there was any animosity in the default monotone voice. To be honest, it was exceedingly difficult to tell any difference between this Sasuke and the previous one, and the question of soul maybe even more difficult.

But at the moment, it really didn't matter to Sasuke. He felt that now, and he searched his memories to compare his decision with his previous ones. He had Sasuke's memories, his attitude, and his purpose. That was all that mattered.

He turned around sharply to face the startled men and blindly smiling gynoid counterpart. Polendina was the first to recover, having had the most experience with this stark behavior, and he coughed in his hand as a shy smile overcame his features.

"Yes, well, very good then. Perhaps now that we know it was a success, we could maybe work on 'fleshing out' your body a little bit more."

Sasuke glanced down to his quite literally naked form. Apart from his face which he glimpsed only as digitally enhanced reflections in the one-way window and the cryogenic chamber, his mechanical shell was bare for all to see. Along with the obvious, if underdeveloped female form. Part of him wanted to pay no heed to this vain matter, as long as he was functionally capable. But there was indeed that human part of him which was abhorrently against remaining looking like a prepubescent teenage girl. He doubted his logic circuits could handle the teasing Naruto would be sure to besiege him with.

"Very well." He nodded curtly to the doctor who brightened like a child on Christmas morning. "Just as long as it doesn't interfere with my fighting capabilities."

"Don't worry Sasuke!" Penny pumped her fist as her father and creator moved over to her new 'brother' to take measurements. "We'll have you combat ready in no time!"

….

"You're sure they're still there?" Qrow whispered over to his partner as the two peered over the frosted ridgeline.

"Yes," Naruto replied quietly with a hint of impatience. "We know that they didn't stop until we were over the pass, and the observation plane kept an eye on them until the storm clouds got in the way."

He eyed the silent huntsman as he pursed his lips, searching studiously through the binoculars. Naruto sighed, conceding.

"Plus, both Blake and I can smell them and see their encampment. Right Blake?"

" _Roger that. Over._ " Their headsets croaked up with no small amount of static. These precarious mountains along with the incoming storm were wreaking havoc on their comms.

Qrow continued to frown, not liking the situation they had been forced into, and constantly trying to dissuade himself that his bad luck had rubbed off on their mission.

They had tracked the White Fang which Naruto had released in their long journey from Mistral to here: the mountain ranges to the West of Beacon academy. Even though they were within spitting distance of their home, they could not afford a leisurely stop over, and had immediately asked to be dropped off in the foothills so that they could double back to where the signal held steady.

Releasing them had all been about tracking them back to whomever had issued the order to murder Sasuke in his sleep. Now that Tyrian was dead, they had no more good trails to follow which lead to Salem. All her known operatives were making themselves scarce as of late.

Both Qrow and Naruto had voiced their objections to the other's handling of the prisoners, but came to a mutual disagreement which allowed them to continue working together. Naruto would pretend what he did was so that they could ambush the White Fang's handler, and Qrow would pretend that what he did wasn't out of petty frustration. It was a working, if not ideal compromise.

But the plan also involved waiting. Out there in the cold, howling wind which whipped so fast across the craggy rock faces that even snow couldn't stick. They sat there on the shaded side of an arête, looking down to the valley below where ragged black tents clung to the edge of an alpine cirque. Adjacent to them, off in the distance, they could just barely make out the fluttering red hood of Ruby along with the considerably more camouflaged Weiss as they lay against the top of a sharp peak.

Luckily, they would be invisible from the ground, and the intense wind which attempted to blow them off the mountain was also whisking away their scent, preventing it from dropping down to the calm valley below.

"I still don't see anybody down there." Qrow muttered disbelievingly.

"Do you really think any sane person would willingly be out in this weather?" Naruto deadpanned as he huddled deeper into his borrowed coat, Weiss's oversized parka still chafing him in all the wrong places and riding up in his armpits. As a Faunus, he naturally ran hot, but good winter clothing was definitely on the list when next he got the chance.

"Mm." Qrow hummed, unsatisfied. He shielded his microphone with his glove and chin. "Yang, Blake, you two see anything?"

" _Yeah, I see two tents and a whole lot of nothing. What the hell do you th-k w-…-ee…"_ Static filled both their headsets as Qrow dropped his binoculars in alarm.

"Yang? Yang? Come in, are you there?" The wind was getting even more intense, and even if the signal went through, they would not be able to hear it over the deafening scream of the air tearing around jags and horns sharp as swords.

"Um, Qrow," Naruto spoke up quietly before he realized the man was too distracted to pick out his normal voice against the background noise. "Qrow!" He shouted at the man right next to him who swiftly abandoned his efforts to reestablish communication and clamped a hand over the teen's mouth. He made a shushing motion much to Naruto's ire.

"What?" He asked impatiently, removing his hand from over his partner's chapped mouth.

Naruto thrust a finger over the ridge and down into the valley, where a dark-hooded visage was crawling its way up to the tents.

"We got company."

….

Ruby felt something immediately after her partner hung up on Naruto and her uncle. But it wasn't for several moments until she could see an incongruous form picking its way up the middle of the valley. The foreign object so starkly different than the monotonous scenery and so blatantly obvious that for a moment she doubted her previously cultivated resolve.

Her Uncle Qrow had been very against their participation in this mission. He might have been justified if they encountered Salem herself during the planned ambush. But short of that, she objectively gauged herself capable of taking down, or at least holding her own against the strongest of her cohorts. But the person down there was a sheer effrontery to sense and reason, disturbing her on an instinctual level. Even from their perch many hundreds of meters above the valley floor, she could feel the wicked energy emanating from the hooded figure. She wondered if the others could feel it.

Weiss could feel her distress, and it was enough to make her brake visual contact with their target long enough to glance over at the hollowed look on her captain's face. She lay a hand on ruby's hooded shoulder. The young woman started at the sudden contact which broke her fixation.

"Are you alright Ruby?" Weiss had to lean quite far over, practically screaming in the girl's ear to make herself heard.

Ruby nodded her head and gripped Crescent Rose tighter than she ever had. She could feel the metal groan under her fingers as the haunting whispers and taunts from the Kyuubi overrode her senses of the outside.

Weiss didn't look convinced, but knew that she had a duty to keep eyes on the confrontation, so turned back down to track their unknown quarry as it made its way up to the tents which presumably housed the White Fang.

It was an intolerably long wait as the person languidly made their way up the un-blazed trail. But as soon as they got within an arrow's range of the huts, the black flap peeled back and out stepped the hooved White-Fang Captain Naruto had set free. They could see that much from this distance, but could not yet see what expression was held on his face.

The stranger approached, not removing their hood, but the Captain did not look alarmed. It was safe to say he had not known they were following him, and that he was expecting this visitor. How they knew when to show up was unknown, as they never detected a signal from the fleeing White Fang. But it would likely remain a mystery, as whatever conversation they were holding was indecipherable through the ambient noise. They couldn't get a good enough look to read lips, either, so they would have to recapture them alive, if at all possible.

In life, however, there is only the possible and the impossible. And the task they had just set for themselves fell into the latter when the stranger whisked a hand from underneath their black cowl and eviscerated the man in front of them, his surprised body tearing itself apart as his blood boiled form within.

The three watching teams did nothing, as did the rest of the White Fang which had exited their tents to greet their apparent contact. They stood there in confusion and horror, up until the point where the cloaked figure threw back a section of cape and raised their dark-skinned arm to the sky, drawing down a rain of fire from the heavens.

Even from their lookout far away they could feel the intensity of the heat. It might have almost been pleasant in that bitter cold, if not for the horrific scene unfolding in the clearing below. They basked in the shadow of the valley of death as fire lit up the dim winter's afternoon and consumed the small encampment. They were so far away that there was no hope that they could do anything, and so were helpless to watch as their one duty to humanity.

The majority of their thoughts didn't apply to their fearless leader, however. Up above on the pointed plateau, Ruby looked down in growing horror-and dare she say it- excitement. She didn't even notice when she had stood up to better see the total destruction of the glacially incised meadow, at least until Weiss yelled at her.

"Ruby! What are you doing?! Get down!" She somehow made her voice heard above the raucous noise of Armageddon spawning in the clouds just above their heads. But neither this, nor her words, were enough to dissuade the uncurtailable impulse that was about to occur.

The black-cloaked figure had only the minutest warnings, the tiniest of tickles on the back of their neck which told them to get out of harms way, before the massive crimson scythe barreled through the crackling air and cleaved through the bedrock upon which they stood.

The girl landed with undeniable grace and poise that was sullied by the intensity of anger sloughing off her in visible waves. The two stood there in the immediate aftermath as an individual flame flickered back and forth.

Then, the figure's cloak separated, the left half peeling off into the torrential fire storm as the microscopic cut made itself know, revealing… nothing.

The figure chuckled, drawing back their hood with that same, singularly chocolate-colored arm. The smile was more recognizable than the face as the shadows of flames danced across it, light reflecting in her eyes, equally ablaze matched only by Ruby's own.

"Hello again Ruby,"

Emerald greeted coyly as the firestorm continued to rage, mixing with the cold mountain air descending down into the valley and caging the lingering rose petals in an eternally buffeting wind. She unclasped her cloak to reveal her Gothically inspired gown, and stared condescendingly down at the coiled huntress who was still covered by billowing cloak and clouds of rage.

"My, how you've grown."


	17. (Don't Sleep Right Now) Only Future King

**So here we are again, getting closer to the grand finale...**

 **Or at least that's the way it was supposed to be until SOMEBODY had to go and throw my carefully crafted theories out the window with flagrant abuse of SPOILERS!**

 **Just kidding. I haven't had a chance to watch episode 12 yet. Been away for all weekend and pretty much a monk for the week prior, just hold up in my room working on my 'scriptures' for you morally corrupted ingrates.**

 **Which, by the way, is a compliment.**

 **So anyway, this was supposed to be out on Friday but FF was having one of their identity crisis again and wouldn't accept my love- I mean upload. Eh, either way sounds kinda kinky.**

 **Not to worry though, other chapters are fast approaching and it's all I can do to keep the plot-bunny population down with my army of fanged implements.**

* * *

 _You do so surprise me, Little Rose._

Blade whistles, wind howls, fire roars. All at once locks are broken, a zoo of captive anarchy is unleashed upon the world.

 _So much reluctance on the surface, yet you have no reservations about taking my power when you want it._

Raw energy rips open a wide trench in the immutable granite. It bleeds, hot molten earth spewing forth in deadly grapeshot at the enemy.

 _Where does this anger come from? You hide it so well, even from me, even from yourself._

Fire fought with fire, overtaking the magma, overtaking everything.

 _I would have just given it to you, had you asked. Then again maybe you can't. Maybe you cannot admit you need me as much as any other of my previous hosts. Surprised, are you, that you are no different than them? No better, no worse. Not so special after all, Little Rose._

A bestial roar, a cackle of delight, and far away a pained cry of despair. Too far, too late. Rage and delight were already invested in battle, equally enthusiastic for something to happen at last. Only one was scared of the inevitable, the other eager for it.

 _As I said, I am not your enemy. I will lend you my strength so that you may defeat the one who is. But be careful My Little Gem, my power is vast and unrestrained like a forest fire. Once sparked, it is hard to quench. And if you play with fire, don't be surprised if you happen to get burned…_

Ruby didn't know why she was so angry when Emerald killed the Faunus in cold blood. It wasn't a singular reason, and it certainly wasn't a logical one which spurred her forward like an arrow. There were plenty of justifications to explain the sudden onset of insatiable rage which burbled up from her belly and now ate away at her flesh like acid, but she couldn't think of them. The only thing she could focus on now, besides the burning anger which rivaled the real flames trying to consumer her, was the look in the man's eyes as he was struck down, and the look in Emerald's.

Dissatisfaction. Searching for something more.

The Fall Maiden let the flakes of fiery lava wash over her like ocean spray before lassoing them behind her head with a tight circle of her finger. The particles congealed mid-air into a ballista that she hurled at Ruby with blistering speed. The molten projectile was sliced in half before it could harden, and the two semi-solid parts plastered into the steep mountain scarp opposite the battle.

"It's been a while, Ruby. You've gotten a lot better." Emerald crooned before her painted smile dribbled down off her face taking a glance at the young huntress she thought she knew.

It was painfully obvious that there was something different, something _wrong_ with the once soft-hearted girl. So fundamental a change, that it hardly seemed right to think of it as the same person. This was a monster, the host already half-gone.

"Something wrong, Rubes?" Emerald questioned coyly, her smile hastily reapplied. "Did I do something to upset you? I know we didn't exactly part on the best of terms but-"

" **No** -!"

The word was like a blade, but no more so than the one she was forced to dodge moments after. She smirked with reluctant admiration as the lightning-fast strike snickered by her side, narrowly missing her in her unpreparedness. She was not immune to the irony that, if not already gone, the blow would have severed her left arm.

She flipped gracefully out of the killing zone as a wildly fast swing made another attempt at splitting her horizontally. Planting her two, heeled feet on the ground, she glanced up at the looming menace with a predatory smile of her own.

"Why so hasty, Rubes? It's been so long, I thought that this would be a great time to have a long overdue chat. We could talk about boys, go shopping, paint our nails… no? Okay then, I guess we'll just have to take a rain check on that…"

Despite her cool and taunting tone, Emerald was afraid of this Ruby. Being in her presence set off a deeply instinctual terror in her gut, which warred with her giddy eagerness at what was sure to be an exciting match. She needed to leave before she succumbed to her battle lust, and thus took advantage of this momentary pause wherein the girl seemed to be struggling to corral her emotions.

With a subtle drawdown of her index finger, Emerald conjured up a rain of fire from the clouds in the heavens, hot winds accelerating the miniscule drops like bullets.

But this was apparently the wrong thing to do. As soon as she sensed the danger, Ruby stopped warring with herself and turned her sights on the true enemy. Emerald froze as the once silvery eyes became two Hermian gems bearing down on her with all the weight of a planet.

The rain of fire descended a blink of an eye later and consumed everything in its path. And in the conflagration, Emerald found herself released from the stare's captivating gravity, and turned to retreat down the dark valley from whence she came.

Only to be reunited with the nightmare.

She met the blade with the palm of her hand, cupping a ball of condensed heat so potent it would melt down to the sea if she dropped it. But she had no chance to see the damage it caused to the scythe, as she felt the hammering force rip the ball out of her hand and bat her entire body away to the side. She staggered, just in time to see the back of _Crescent Rose_ smack into her upturned lips.

Ruby was breathing hard, but not from exertion of speed. In fact, she felt good. She felt fast, she felt strong. It was like the ultimate sugar-high coursing through her veins and melting away both her body and her morals from the inside out.

She knew what it was. She knew she should be afraid, but wasn't. She was more in control this time, or at least thought she was. She was present in her mind to think, now, and that made her a deadlier opponent. But it also meant that she was accepting of this malign power and all of its consequences. The Kyuubi wasn't whispering in her ear, now. She had no one to blame but herself.

Emerald picked herself up off the perturbed ground easily enough, a bloody smile stretched across her face. It was too late now to run away. Anarchy ruled in the ephemeral, the moment to moment flux. This was going to be the fight of a lifetime.

She touched a palm to the ground, lighting up the scant grasses around them in a ring of fire, more symbolic than anything else. But she wanted to let whatever essence existed behind those soul-crushing, quartziferous eyes that she wasn't going anywhere.

Then they both burst into motion.

…

Naruto had already broken away from Qrow, throwing himself down the steep slope and surfing the scree half-way down before he even thought to use his semblance. His eyes never left the show-down in the valley cirque even as the escalating flames threatened to blind him. He couldn't stop to wait, to think of something smarter to do. Ruby was fighting, and though she was holding her own against Emerald, she was losing to herself.

He could feel the Kyuubi's chakra-Aura-energy-whatever it was- from far away, probing the ether for him, for whatever he held that it wanted. And he was headed straight into its claws. Not that he had a choice.

He cried out her name in a desperate hope that she might wake up from the waking trance she was in. The words dropped short in the cold air.

Even with his semblance, he was not a fast flyer. Becoming one with the air meant moving at its same speed, else using a lot of energy shoving the surprisingly dense gas aside. Energy now, that he dolled out like candy in order to sail his way over to their fight as quickly as possible.

In that fluid state he felt and saw everything. Every echoing explosion, every drumming blow thrummed in his chest like a heartbeat. The once cloudy night sky lit up in a display of lights that looked like fireworks. Ruby darting around carelessly flung fireballs and the rose petals igniting in her wake with little bursts of embers which flowered and then disappeared into ash.

He was blown out of suspension by a concentration of flame hurled aimlessly in his direction. He landed hard on the ground, but didn't stop to assess the pain and merely continued his blitz on foot, throwing himself past the wall of flame which rose to sequester the two fighters in their deathmatch.

…..

The more cynical side of her brain was the part which saved her, breaking her out of her battle-myopathy just enough to dodge a puukko knife thrown at her from above, the blued steel glinting like ice among all the flame surrounding the two of them. She just sneered at the latest arrival for interrupting her fun.

"Well, well. It's just a night for reunions, huh? I didn't think you missed me that much, Naruto. Guess I did kind of leave you hanging, huh?"

She backed up a step as the knife darted back into the young man's grip with a flick of a gossamer-thin wire. She was far warier of the possessed Ruby who had also stopped to appraise the latest development, curiously watching the blond boy like a morsel she had never yet tasted. There was no other recognition behind those bloody eyes.

Naruto met the stare in his peripheries, taking cautious note of the girl too, but more focused on the Emerald. There wasn't a whole lot he could do for Ruby that she could not do for herself, and so the best thing he could probably do would be to remove the temptation.

"But it still feels like we're missing someone." Emerald tapped her lower lip as she feigned thought. "Oh hey, where's Sasuke? It's just not a party without him."

"I don't need his help to kick your ass."

"I'm sure you don't." She admitted without dropping her smile, cocking her head to the side and glancing over to the third corner of their triangle. "But tell me, who's going to keep her from kicking yours?"

Double-tapping he ground, his foot kick-started the second part of the fight, and the other two took heart as they all flew into motion. Naruto narrowly dodged a stream of fire which licked at his heels and burned the hem of his borrowed jacket. He ignored the close call as he bobbed and weaved the whip of flame which flailed wildly at both him and Ruby.

Seeing Ruby flick in and out of existence ahead of a burst of rose petals, he realized he was at a disadvantage. Emerald's flames were the Achilles heel to his semblance. If he were to become airborne, she could simply ignite him with a snap of her fingers.

That being said, the match was two on one, and he had no problem hitting a handicapped woman.

He still had another ace, and with only minor difficulty he managed to dredge up the concentration necessary to coax out a blade of wind on the edge of both his knives. He flexed the augmentation only once, twirling them with his wrists before he flicked aside the tongue of flame Emerald sent his way.

Her eyes snapped to him in alarm, temporarily forgetting about the bestial young woman who was harrying her with reckless abandon. She was unaware of this ability, despite her constant efforts to spy on the young man and his partner. Perhaps Junior was right, and she was simply too lax to run an empire.

But as they say, fake it until you make it. And if nothing else, she was a great faker.

Naruto stabbed past her defensive wall of flame, the invisible edge of the wind -bade projected through fire and flesh alike, a pained cry issuing from behind the barrier. He burst through the dissipating heat with the other knife cocked behind him, only to pause in horror on the other side of the dying flames.

The rose petals which appeared around Ruby hung there for a brief second as she stared blinkingly at him. All was still, before everything fell down. _Crescent Rose_ clattered next to her on the stone as she dropped to her knees, the torrent of blood flowing out of her bosom and mingling on the cold ground with the forgotten petals.

Naruto felt himself break as the world seemed to freeze around them. He was torn, for in that moment of stillness Ruby still lived, and his pieces were still held together. But by the same token, he would be stuck with her once lively face staring at him with pain and betrayal for all eternity. In the end there was no choice. He rushed to her side, numb yet hurting, alive and yet dead.

He gawped for words which were choked with tears. It was too surreal to even fathom what to say to the girl he struck down, now bleeding out in his arms. It was too fantastical to think of what he could do to save her. He was held captive by those dreamily silver eyes, forced to watch as they faded away.

Then both of them were swallowed by the living fire which sprouted from the ground.

"Too easy."

Emerald's smile faltered slightly in a previously unknown regret. She assured herself it wasn't out of sympathy, and merely disappointment with the too-quick match. She had been saturated with disappointment as of late, and had a hard time telling it apart from anything else.

"Oh well. Easy come, easy go. Now then…"

She turned back to face the real Ruby, who had not been affected by her illusion, and tracked her across the field. She flinched under the venomous glare, but took heart in the conflict which staggered back and forth within the primal girl. She held her hand out as if offering it for a kiss.

"Shall we dance?"

The mocking appendage was suddenly jerked down and to the side, and Emerald stumbled to a knee. Another tug on the fishing line wrapped around her wrist slammed her face into the semi-rocky terrain and proceeded to reel her further into the shadows.

Like a cat with a string, Ruby leapt at this opportunity. There was no pride or chivalry in the fight, but even Emerald despaired the cutthroat move. She lit up the line on her wrist like a fuse, revealing a single puukko jabbed into the ground at the other end. Rather than fathom how Naruto had escaped her trap, she jerked the knife on a string heavily, sending careening at Ruby.

The girl barely batted an eye, much less the implement of death which tinkled harmlessly off her scythe. She didn't stop her charge at Emerald who was still struggling to right herself.

"Enough games!"

She hissed to herself, the word blending seamlessly into the hiss of expanding gasses underneath her, shooting her up and away from the blade descending on her like a guillotine.

"U!"

Like the letter, her back bent backwards as a bare-wrapped foot planted itself in the small of her back.

"Zu!"

Another coil of wire wrapped itself around her midsection as she groaned both mentally and out loud in pain and exasperation for what inevitably came next.

"Ma!"

A fist kissed her in the face, snapping her head back and spraying the dribbling blood at the corners of her smile.

"Ki!"

It was all so….

"Naruto Rendan!"

Nostalgic.

Lost in both reminiscence and dizziness as she spiraled towards the ground, Emerald was in fact unaware that her brutal beating spared her a far worse fate: Ruby's scythe found nothing but hollow air, instead of her battered body as Naruto knocked her out of the way.

Meanwhile, Naruto was forced to dodge the furious blade which was deprived of its meal. In the space between the blade and his cheek, he saw the reflection of a blood-ridden gaze, unrecognizing and uncaring of who or what got in her way. It was wrong. He had to do something.

He would do something.

But what? He was already reeling from his narrow escape, the top layer of his skin sacrificed to make the hollow clone which Emerald set ablaze. And he didn't know if he dared face Ruby under the influence of the Fox. He couldn't fight her with lethal strength, and he didn't know how else to slow her down. Hell, he couldn't even get close to her, for even now he could feel the Kyuubi's incessant pull, kindly reminding him that he would try to escape if given the chance.

He had no more time for thought, though, only action. Ruby was already faster than him, and she was driven solely by instinct. He had already used two tricks from his past, and now he had to rely on a third.

His body and mind did not fail him as he kicked off Ruby's blade, flipping backwards and away from the column of flame that came between them. He heard Ruby's screech of anger and pain as the fire burned through the shroud of vile energy protecting her.

Emerald lowered her arm as he landed on the ground across from her, the trail of flames dying down to two snaking strands, one of which she grabbed like it was alive and scooped it towards the ground. The fire reemerged molten and deadly, shaped into a curved blade. Which she pointed in his direction.

"You," She began, whipping a stray lock of hair over her shoulder. The second fire-snake undulating like a tail which snapped at Ruby attempting to attack her from behind.

"Why didn't you kill me?" Fun and games were apparently over.

It seemed that Naruto had struck a nerve. Or maybe Emerald was as off-balance as he suspected her to be (not that he could really compare). Either way, he had a choice to respond, but didn't know to what she was referring to.

"You had a chance. Just now, to end this little playdate once and for all. You hit me, instead of using that blade of yours. You maneuvered me out of danger. Why?"

"Now you're looking for reason?" Naruto growled, keeping a watchful eye on Ruby, who was now suddenly battling a tangle of fire snakes instead of the lone one. And like a hydra, every time she cut one in half, another two took its place. He turned back to Emerald. "Don't look too much into it. Ruby has suffered a lot, I don't want your dirty blood on her hands." He spat off to the side, his mouth tasting unbearably of ash and brimstone.

"Don't lie." The Maiden's crimson eyes were trained on him, he was sure, but were shadowed beneath bangs lowered like a curtain. "Long ago, you once said that we were alike. Suppose I agree with you. Why then… why did you spare me? Back then, and now. It doesn't make any sense!"

Naruto scoffed.

"I thought you were all about chaos. Where's the sense in that?"

"Chaos makes sense. It is the _only_ sense." The woman insisted, sounding almost desperate in her logic and not lowering her blade pointed crazily in his direction. "The strong live and the weak die unless there is chaos. Anarchy gives the weak a fighting chance, an opportunity to support one another. Chaos makes sense because everyone is equal. There isn't a strong or a weak because everything is changing. Nothing is fixed long enough for there to be tyranny about anything- don't you understand? – it's what the Grimm are here to achieve, fear and constant paranoia, constantly on the move, constant change. Salem wants to exploit that- rule over it. But I'm not like that! I just want to live like everyone else. Everyone wants to live- can't you see that? You want to control who lives and who dies- control!

"What gives you that right?!"

She screamed out at last, her soliloquy coming to an apogee of madness and disaffection.

"Duck!"

He screamed at her, regardless of the diatribe just hurled at him. But there was little chance she heard him before the blast lit up the night sky and tore through the small canyon. The concentrated beam swept the half-circle mountains from end to end, causing the rock walls to come cascading down in one massive landslide of rubble.

Everything was buried in a grave of stone and dust.

In those moments of weightlessness, as he watched the landscape be reformed by the impossibly powerful blast beneath him, he wondered if he had managed to activate his semblance in time to escape, or if this was what it felt like to be a ghost. Confusion, inner turmoil, dissatisfaction and hopelessness. It was hard to tell.

But then the pall of dust began to settle after an inexorably long time, and he dropped down to the ground with it, feet landing unsteadily on jagged rock which was part and parcel of the new terrain. He scanned across the dusty scene in horrified awe looking for a hopefully worn-out, but safe, Ruby. The stench of Kyuubi's vile aura told him everything he needed to know about what happened, except where she was.

A silhouette of black in the thick-white cloud. He flinched, fingering his remaining puukko. Waiting in tense anticipation. Was it Ruby? Was she still under possession or was she back to normal? If it was her, how did he proceed? He would throw himself on her blade if he thought it would make any difference. Maybe it would. Maybe that's what the other him would do.

He closed his eyes, searching for the solution which would come if Ruby was near, memories locked in that innocent little head holding so many hidden answers. He had faith in himself to find it, if it was there. He had faith in her not to kill him until he did.

But a harsh cough broke his concentration, one too deep even for the darkened Ruby. He brought his weapon back up, but it soon became obvious that it was unnecessary. The woman who staggered out of the cloud wouldn't be doing anyone harm anymore.

Emerald walked on unsteady feet over the hackly ground, high-heels long since abandoned or simply disintegrated, along with most of her dress, the tailor-made garment thrashed beyond all recognition and covered in a chalky dust which superseded the original color. Even her once caramel skin was plastered over in a gray-white that made her look like the statue of Venus. The look complete, now missing both of her arms.

She stepped forward, issuing a combination of a cry, scream and cough as her foot stumbled and jammed into another rock, the jerking motion exacerbating her injuries. The newly removed arm wasn't bleeding. Apparently, whatever Ruby had done had cauterized the remaining stump, along with almost all of Emerald's side trailing up to her face which was now spiderwebbed with puckered and moon-scape flesh. Her one remaining eye narrowed in hysterical shock and lingering hate.

Indecision was his first thought. Divided between running to her aid and putting her out of her misery. He had sworn he wasn't an executioner. But was this much of a life? The flicker in her eyes was just a pilot light for renewed enmity.

But it wasn't his first thought that moved him. His body move on its own accord as soon as it saw the second shadow emerging from the fog. A Grimm reaper already poised ready to strike.

Did instinct betray him at last? He was one who was always willing to throw himself into the fire if it would spare someone else. In his defense, he didn't want anyone to die that night. Not Emerald, not Ruby, and not even him. He always came last on that list.

Whatever the reason, he found himself rooted between Ruby, who was half-snarling, half aghast with her own deplorable actions as she struggled to halt herself, and Emerald, who was more dead than alive anyway. _Crescent Rose_ was already descending in its arc towards his crucified form.

In the final moments, he drowned himself in the pleasant memories.

…..

Sasuke paused in his stride, cocking his head up to the clear blue sky. The deep shade was familiar even through these strange new eyes.

It was inexplicable. None of his sensors showed any change. Nothing newsworthy on any of the broadcasts. And yet, he felt something happen. Something of dire importance. Something, he suspected, which had to do with his partner.

The servo motors around his mouth squeezed the artificial flesh in to a smirk, yet another telltale sign that he was still human somewhere underneath that biological machinery. Inexplicable and irrational like the heavy wool cloak which he tightened around himself. It served no purpose in keeping him warm, but he chose to don it once again for some reason his machinery couldn't comprehend.

He looked down at the monotonous tundra ahead of him. Hundreds of miles to his destination on foot through knee-deep snow. And another thousand miles after that. He didn't have time to waste on frivolous things.

How much of him was human? How much was machine? Was this metal facsimile really any different than the decaying husk he left behind back in Atlas? He didn't know, and he didn't care. He still had his purpose. And as long as he knew that, he knew who he was.

The un-burdensome weight shifted on its makeshift sling, the experimental weapon rocking on his shoulder, making his heavy footstep sink that much further into the permafrost. Still, it made him content in its presence, the fact that the General, the Doctor, and even Penny entrusted him to complete this task he set for himself. They validated his purpose, and gave him the tools to accomplish it.

He had always been a horse with its blinders on. Maybe what he sought wasn't on the path he trod. Maybe what he would find wouldn't be what he was looking for. Maybe he was okay with that.

Still so many questions lay ahead. But many more lay behind.

…

"Come on, stay with us!"

He would, to his dying breath he would try.

But life, even death seemed far away, even though it had loomed so near not moments before. How many moments? He was frozen in that last one, forever staring at Ruby's horrified face untwisting from the tensioned anger as she swung her weapon with uncontrolled might at him and Emerald.

And now he was here. He had stopped for death, but death had passed him by.

"Don't go dying now you bastard!"

He wasn't. Didn't he just say that? Sorry, he just thought that. Thinking was something he was still getting used to.

"Naruto!" Someone else called his name, but he couldn't see who because the images were disconnected from thought. "Snap out of it!"

His head whipped to the side with a firm slap. Like a television coming into focus, the squiggly lines in his mind honed into an intelligible scene.

He almost wished it hadn't.

It was still a hard sight to digest. There was so much commotion happening in front of him, and so much blood coating the reclined form that at first he began to once again doubt if he had survived the encounter. His out-of-body yearnings were cut short though when Blake slapped him again, harder this time but without anger.

"Get yourself together." Her calm voice rallied him, reminding him of his neglected duties.

Whomever was lying on the ground was already crowded by Yang and Weiss. Looking over his shoulder to find Emerald was in much the same state that he had been: tame in her shock and not currently of concern. The empty look she used to stare straight ahead reminded him too much of his own, so he quickly looked away.

He came face to face with Ruby. But this may have been worse, for his precious person had been so deeply hurt by what had happened-what she had done, that Naruto too felt himself breaking up inside. She was so folded in on her own crisis and misery, that he thought she wouldn't notice him slowly approaching her. But before he could even get within arm's reach, she leapt back as if suddenly burned.

"Don't get close to me!" He felt the words worse than if it had been _Crescent Rose_ striking him. "P-please, just stay back. I-I don't think I can control him…"

"You can, Ruby." He said without fail. Those words at least coming to him this time. "Try and get a hold of yourself."

Echoing the words Blake just spoke to him, Naruto took a cautious step forward. Ruby shied away, but it was clear that much like during the battle, she was conflicted. He tried again, managing to snag her arm and rope her into a hug where she let his strong arms envelop her entirely. Gods, she felt so small in his embrace.

The Kyuubi was still there. He felt it slowly struggling against the seal. It hadn't yet been exhausted by the battle, and was now being fueled by another set of strong, negative emotions.

"Ruby," He spoke calmly into her ear, unsure if she was even listening. "You have to be calm. You have to get your emotions under control. Do you think you can do that for me?"

The muffled whine in his chest was clear, but he forced her to get the words out.

"No!" She sobbed. "I can't! I don't know how!"

"You have to try." He spoke, mustering as much belief as he possibly could. It was a tall order, and he knew it. But maybe, just maybe, he could borrow some faith.

"How can I? Naruto, how can I even live with myself with what I have done?I-"

He wanted to tell her, show her an example to go by. But he just couldn't find the effort to be strong. If Qrow could see him now, he would chide him unmercifully for this failing.

But, sadly, the man couldn't say much. Not when he was busy choking on his own blood.

"Baka…"

Whether Naruto muttered the phrase at the abrasive man who had the gall to turn into a martyr, or himself for allowing him, he wouldn't know. He said it so low, that even he had barely heard it above the muted crackles of dying fire, and the frantic shouts of two green huntresses trying desperately to stem the blood flow with hands and make-shift tourniquets.

But somehow Qrow seemed to hear it, his eyes cracked open and stared up at him. A feeble hand beckoned him over with a single finger.

Naruto tried to drag Ruby with him, knowing that she would regret not hearing what might be the final words of her uncle. At first she was hysteric, putting up a dispirited fight and pounding on his chest, not allowing herself to go anywhere near the man. But finally, he was able to conjure up a fraction of the conviction he should have had all along, whittling away at her resolve with an insistence.

The two knelt by the man while Weiss and Yang continued to work, though with less urgency.

"Karasu-no-baka." Naruto issued unflinchingly to the man's face which remained frozen in a smirk. "You didn't have to do that."

"Oh, I didn't?" Qrow mused tiredly, surprisingly clear despite the gaping chest wound all but separating his upper and lower half. "Shit. You should have told me. Can I get a do-over?"

The morbid sarcasm was so characteristic of the man, that Ruby couldn't help the drowned laugh burbling up from her throat. The tears resumed afterwards, though.

"Ruby, listen to me." He said with quiet seriousness, evidently sensing the end was nigh. "You're a big girl. I'm not going to lie to you, you screwed up. But hey-hey! Just listen to me!" He called frantically to his niece when it appeared she was about to lose it again. In turn, he dissolved into a series of coughs and hacked up gobs of viscous crimson from his mouth. He started and stopped another three times while they just kneeled there in helpless attention.

"Listen to me," He croaked out, half-drowning but pushing on out of desperation and force of will. The kind that Naruto still couldn't regain. "You screwed up, Ruby. But that doesn't make you a failure, it doesn't make you weak, and it sure as hell doesn't make you a bad person. Today you drew your blade on someone who deserved it, and someone else died instead. That's the way life is. La vie est drôle- or something like that. Means 'shit happens'. But don't ever let that stop you!

"Adam Taurus deserved to die. Hell, I probably deserve to die. I've killed a lot of people who didn't really deserve it, but I did it because I thought it would make a better world for you girls after I was gone. That might be a better reason than most, but it's still a selfish one. That's not who you are, Ruby, you ain't selfish, not by a long shot. When you do something it's because you **know** it'll help people. Your friends, strangers, probably an enemy or two."

Naruto shot a glance back an Emerald who was still in the same position they left her, rooted with her knees to the ground like a gnarled Bristlecone Pine, waiting patiently to grow again.

"Don't ever lose that kind streak Ruby. It's what makes you who you are. Even if it does sometimes put you or the ones you love in danger- don't ever regret it." He turned to Naruto, and the man's crimson eyes gazed out past the backdrop of red which stained everything. "Take care of her kid. That's an order. And…" He looked like he was about to hack out another piece of his lung. "…try to take care of yourself while you're at it."

"Is that an order?" Naruto asked humorously, though his own eyes were on the verge of tears.

"Ernest suggestion." Qrow quipped back, smirk slowly fading as the whites of his eyes began to disappear under the red blanket.

"Please stop trying to talk, Uncle Qrow." Yang urged him not to strain himself as she could see the amount of damage it was doing.

"You take care too, Bruiser. Your dad'd be proud of you… mom too, I guess."

"Uncle Qrow. Uncle Qrow!"

"Just closing my eyes for a minute. What's a guy got to do to get a drink around here? I'm parched…"

"Hey! Old man! Who said you could rest? I'm not done talking to you! We're not done talking!"

But Qrow was. It was painfully obvious he had given up the ghost already. But in the threat of losing his mentor and inspiration, Naruto took up the mantel, not about to let one of his own go gently into that good night.

As usual, it was time for reckless desperation.

Practically shoving Yang aside, Naruto kneeled down into the oatmeal ground of rock and blood. Scrambling to corral every drop of Aura he could find, he concentrated it all into a single point on his palm like the tip of his blade. Riding on the wave of that sweeping instinct, he bit into that spot on his hand, tearing his own flesh open in a gesture that felt like deja-vu.

Already the others had given thoughts to stop him in his wild actions. But nobody moved, shocked now into ghoulishly watching like rubberneckers looking at a car crash. And even when he dared to shove his weeping hand into the gaping crevasse of Qrow's wound, they could only recoil backwards.

"Naruto! What are you doing?"

Yang rebounded faster than the others, reaching for the young man's arm plunged halfway in her uncle's motionless chest. But even as she did so, her movement was driven away by a force which became visible moments later, an unearthly glow sprouting from the contact.

Ruby felt her tears dry up on their own, even before the warming light reached her stained cheek. There was hope there where there ought not to be, and she too was touched by the proximal high. The Kyuubi too was quiet and observant. That alone was enough motivation.

She took up a place opposite her blonde companion, letting Weiss move out of the way on her own accord. She didn't know what she was doing, but suspected neither exactly did Naruto. She placed her hands on his, also concentrating her Aura through that tiny peephole. She could feel the Fox try to push his way to the front, reaching out to Naruto through the connection they were consciously making.

But she held him back. Somehow, she did what she could not do before.

Not to say it wasn't hard. Naruto too was struggling. It was a million times harder than manipulating his Aura through his knives. This wasn't a simple veneer to gloss over imperfections, this was an active manipulation of his cells, forcing the biological machines from his body into Qrow's. Exporting them, giving them life, autonomy.

Ruby's hand on his own kept pestering him with memories, reminding him that he wasn't capable of such skillful manipulation. 'But', he replied in turn, 'Uzumaki Naruto never lets other people tell him what he can and can't do. Not his friends, and not even himself'.

He smiled a broad and toothy grin, despite the grim setting. A real one. Or something which felt like reality in a nightmarish situation. It was infectious as he hoped his Aura-manipulation would be. Ruby allowed herself the possibility of absolution from her sins, cracking a small but equally true expression.

It felt like hours. It might have been. The fires had long since died and the day had long since given way to the domain of faeries. There was no way to account for time, and even the observers lost track of it in their transfixed staring. It wasn't even cold anymore in the presence of so much Aura being squandered, the vast excess bleeding off into the starless night and warming the small enclave.

The polychrome light began to flicker after a while, and shortly thereafter died. But the three spectators remained stock still, frozen in their nativity scene.

Yang stirred, approached the three of them with caution and apprehension. There was no telling what Naruto and Ruby had done, if indeed they had done any good at all. For all she knew, she was looking at three corpses instead of one. That thought made her gut clench in abject fear, staying her hand for all of a second. But her arm twitched and poked Naruto in the shoulder.

She got a soft groan and nearly collapsed in relief.

Weiss slowly stood up, legs stiff and unsteady from hours of the same position. She gently took Ruby's equally exhausted body in her arms, half-dragging the girl away from the mucky area while Blake did the same for the male with a little more grace.

Yang picked herself back up once again and made her way over to the still form of her Uncle. The light was so dim now that she couldn't tell if the blood-soaked clothes were still covering a gaping chasm underneath. She swallowed the bile threatening to come up and leaned over her ill-fated uncle, ear over his unshaven mouth.

The faintest breeze tickled her ear.

….

"Have you ever seen the Aurora Borealis?" The flaxen blonde asked her employer with a nostalgic flair one would not expect from the normally sever woman.

"Are they anything like this?" Glynda asked back, gently circling the red wine in her glass, untouched since she had poured it.

The two of them continued to stare out the tower's continuous window facing East. All the electric lights were extinguished, allowing the eerie glow to penetrate and disperse throughout the whole room. The myriad of colors bathed everything in their kaleidoscopic dance, like being under a rainbow-colored sea staring up at the surface.

"Every Aurora is special." Aurelia qualified, nursing her own glass of something whose color was bleached by the rest of the light show. "Unique. Saying one is like another is like saying the same for a person."

Glynda nodded wordlessly, not feeling up to asking any more questions. She'd had to ask too many painful questions upon the return of team RWBY and company, receiving too many heavy answers. She took a compulsory sip of her wine, not so much tasting it as simply going through the motions, hoping that the contents would help her take the edge off, help her forget.

She wanted to enjoy the light show, but found she couldn't.

"This one though…" Aurelia spoke out of turn, taking a dramatic sip of her own glass as Glynda glanced her way. "This one… is special."

There were no celestial lights in Vale. Yet there they were. Not quite as bright as day, but a clear beacon in the cold winter night too slowly giving way towards spring. They shimmered like a curtain of glass above the abyssal mountain range, catching the eyes of the entire city of Vale in their enticing wink.

" _They_ are special." The headmistress smiled into her glass.

"Do you think they had something to do with it?"

"What else could it be?"

The lightshow had started hours after sunset, coinciding with the less-than-victorious return of the wayward students. Nothing they had revealed could explain the phenomena. But there it was anyway.

"I wouldn't look too much into it." Aurelia snarked, a knowing smirk on her stony face.

"You _do_ think they did it?" Glynda questioned, surprising mostly herself. "You're proud of them, aren't you?"

"As I said, don't look too much into it."

Did they even have the right to be? Did their tutelage have any effect on the actions the students had taken of their own accord, out of desperation, out of duty? Did she, Glynda, have any hand in shaping the fate of any students at all? She kept telling herself that she had done the best she knew how, but somehow it was never enough. Had she been there, things might have turned out better. They could have equally been worse.

This was hardly the best of all possible worlds. Hardly the best outcome for a simple mission. So why then did they deserve such a beautiful symbol which seemed to assure them everything was going to be alright?

She voiced the question to her instructor-cum-confident.

Aurelia sighed, shook her head with a condescending smile on her face.

"Once again…"

"I know, I know. Don't look too much into it." Glynda grumbled, taking a larger gulp of her libations. "I guess some things should remain a mystery then."

"Mm. Something like that."

The magical lights lasted until dawn, where they faded away into an equally beautiful day.

…

Sasuke continued to glare at the engraved message on the wall, trying to pry something more out of it. The new capabilities of his eyes were only slightly different than his Sharingan, but were infinitely more powerful because of the database of information they were connected to. He could be an instantaneous expert in forensics, lithography, cryptoanalysis- basically anything he needed to be at a given time.

Still, that didn't seem to be helping him now, as the words mocked him with their existence as much as their message.

'So Close, and Yet So Far'

The truth was the most stinging part. Using Qrow's remaining leads along with what information Atlas had on Salem, he had managed to locate her hideout within days of his departure. Only to arrive and find nothing.

Nothing, that is, but the deep gouges on the once pristine marble, looking like they had been inscribed there since the dawn of time, but smelling as though he had just missed them leaving. And there was not another trace to be found of where they had gone.

Breaking things in anger was a human expression, albeit one he was not used to. It caused him no pain, nor satisfaction when he slammed his foot into one of the Corinthian pillars lining the approach and framing Salem's parting words. He felt nothing as the decoration collapsed in a massive heap on the hand-laid mosaic floor, marring it irreparably.

He didn't care. He had just wasted his one chance that he had been given. The General had gone against his own command structure to spirit him the information and the weapon, turning a blind eye to his departure in the process. A risk that could cost him his career, and he had nothing to show in gratitude.

He took a deep breath, trying to recall the same Zen-like feeling he felt after the failed mission to capture the Spring Maiden. The action didn't help as much as it did before. Breathing being merely for show and not affecting his actual wellness.

But the real reason it failed to placate him was the fact that he was alone. For the first time in a many a month, he was well and truly alone. He had no one else to blame, no one else to turn to. And that was the hardest part to accept.

He turned his back on the destruction he had caused, and the message which precipitated it. He would scour every inch of the alpine mansion before he was done. There was a pragmatic voice, probably from his circuitry, nagging him that he would find nothing. But he ignored it. Going through the motions was his therapy, his token effort to the spirit of human resilience. There was no one checking on him, yet he still felt he had to try.

He had come a long way emotionally from the single-minded avenger that had gotten him here, and it wasn't solely a product of being bionic. Remnant itself had changed in the time they had been there. Maybe, he mused, it had come further with their influence than it would have had otherwise. After all, they had Salem on the ropes now, and even though it would still be an effort to track her down, the final battle was fast approaching.

"So close, and so far…" Sasuke mused, once again recognizing his voice as it echoed throughout the long hallway.

"So far, so good."

….

"So close!"

The hiss like a dog whistle sent the surrounding Grimm reeling, frenzied howls and guttural roars echoing into the night. But she didn't care. Anyone within earshot would cower at the sound, not go and investigate it. She allowed the Grimm to feed off her unrestrained emotions, frustration, anger and hatred all equally delectable treats for her company, and poison that she desperately needed to purge.

So close. She had _always_ been so close. In her centuries of life, she had _never_ been this close to succeeding. This last year was the culmination of decades of planning and manipulating, setting up all of her pieces in the right way for her plan to prevail.

She had made contingencies for every possibility. What she hadn't counted on was the impossible.

That tear in reality, in the fabric of everything she wove, which started so innocuously that she couldn't blame herself for not realizing it sooner.

The fault, as usual lay with others and her trust in them.

It had been Cinder who failed her. Even in death, passing her power on to the ingrate Emerald who took twisted pleasure in harrying her and picking away at the scraps of her empire. It had been Tyrian who failed her, arrogance getting him captured and executed while accomplishing nothing in return. And Watts…

"Any word?" She asked quietly, anger bleeding out into the empty forest.

"We haven't had any notice since he disappeared along with Lionheart." The deep voice of her remaining subordinate echoed smoothly, undeterred by her chaotic disposition and the baying Grimm.

"I see…"

Which was a lie. She didn't, couldn't see why no one was behaving like she predicted. What could possibly alter human decisions so? They were so fond of saying that love and hate were two sides of the same coin, only a razor edge between. That had always worked in her favor. Those abstract concepts people dreamt up to satisfy themselves were easily manipulated into serving their baser instincts. Fear, greed, lust, all of these were her domain, and the only constant in life.

Why did humans never live up to expectations?

"Hazel," Her voice had gone back to being calm and detached, her usual status quo and one of the reasons he respected her.

"Yes, Mistress?"

"You have served me well."

Hazel was a sturdy man and not easily shaken. But those words were tremors running up his tree-trunk spine, shaking him from his bark-like callouses down to his roots. These were words he knew, and knew what came next.

"Please! Mistress, have I done something wrong? Is there anything-"

"You have served me well." She reiterated, cutting him off with subtle smile which was devoid of its normal edge. "You have done nothing to displease me. Except, perhaps, making me compare others to a higher standard."

She finished with a chuckle, the only sound the reigning silence. Hazel stood agape as one of Salem's Grimm approached her slowly, curiosity on its apatite now that it was robbed of the more tantalizing emotions. The anger had gone, leaving nothing but a vacuum. She lay a hand on its probing snout, thumb scratching the ridge of the Beowulf's nose absently.

"Leave me." She requested calmly, but there was nothing else to differentiate it from a command.

He didn't move at first. Not out of disobedience, rather in the throes of abject confusion, warped perception still trying to rationalize this as a test.

"Go." Came the firm command. She didn't look at him. "And do not come back."

She felt his head bow somberly, and counted his heavy steps as they crunched softly on the frosted ground. She could see it all, including the unshed tear in his eyes.

So why couldn't she what was going to happen next?

"Grimm…" She began, voice a tuning fork which perked up all of their ears. "I can always count on you to do what you were designed to do."

The hand rubbing the Beowulf's snout cupped its chin as the beast growled softly in comfort and sympathy. She met its eyes, a mirror image of her own.

"I forgive you."

Then she snapped its neck.

The other Grimm sat there complacently, watching as their packmate's body slowly dissolved into black smoke which rose up into the night sky and blotted out the stars.

Salem stared up at the dissipating cloud, waiting for the glowing moon to break through. A low tone began creeping up all around her as the other Beowulfs started howling. The other species joined in, and soon there was a haunting drone which echoed all throughout the snowy woods. Howls, screeches and groans bleeding into a single dissonant note that would make ears bleed.

Her teeth resonated behind her wide grin.

"So predictable…"


	18. Nomadic Chronicle

**What?! A Thursday Update?!**

 **Well, don't get used to it. I'm headed off for the weekend and I just want to make sure my cute little addicts get their fix.**

 **I WAS going to start putting out the last few chapters back to back as I finished them ( as of now, everything but the epilogue is finished), but I decided to take my time and slow down a bit, just in case there was stuff that I thought of a long the way that I wanted to add.**

 **Anyway, to the guest reviewer who asked last time [WTF is up with Salem?!] : She's psychotic. Although that is just a cop-out, a more in-depth explanation is that she has long since been disillusioned with humanity, and especially now since all of her subjects have been failing her. Grimm are basic, predictable, and by snapping its neck she is demonstrating both that predictability in that they will just irrationally obey her, as well as just how insignificant all forms of life are to her. This is offset by the fact that it also represents a sort of ritual sacrifice instead of Hazel, whom she wants to trust but can't anymore. Again, though the thought that all life is equally insignificant under her is continued.**

 **...or something like that. Hope that clears things up.**

* * *

 _Your eyes shut as yet another day draws to a close._

 _It's okay, it's just another day. One among countless for you, in your eternal wanderings._

 _Time is on your side, Goddess. Everything heals given time. Everything dies given time._

 _But time is on my side as well. No longer can you afford to keep drifting through life like a ghost._

 _You feel it, don't you, Witch? Do you feel me as I do you? Or is the invisible string, like time, only one way?_

 _It draws me inexorably. I am coming for you, to undo everything you have done._

 _It's okay, just keep on as you have before. Live your schemes to fruition and sleep sound, ignorance your blanket. Spend your earnings, for there are no pockets in a death shroud._

 _When I come, I promise to be swift._

 _Just remember that everything green and gold will fade given time. The tokens you accumulate will corrode. The favors you earn will be forgotten. The fruits you cultivate will rot in the ground without you there to care for them._

 _And from their decaying carcass I shall grow again._

…..

"Concentrate… can you feel me going inside of you?"

"I-I think so…"

"You know, if you had said those words any other circumstances, I would be ripping those whisker-marks off your face Fox-boy."

"Not helping Yang."

Ruby's face scrunched up in her typical manner associated with both intense concentration or extreme irritation. In this case, it was a bit of both. The irritation had in fact started long since before Yang grew bored with her own role, and started teasing the two youngest at every opportunity. This whole exercise was a lesson in anger management.

Literally.

There was no easy or safe way of going about training with the Fox's chakra. There was safety in numbers, or so the idea went. But it was the results which mattered, and whatever haphazard thought process got them to where they were seemed to be doing a good job. Plus, having so many of her friends within arm's reach was doubtlessly aiding her.

"Don't let your frustrations speak out for you, Ruby." A stern voice reproached the blithe banter, a sharp tug on the reins which made Ruby more sore than cooperative.

Perhaps she was receiving _too_ much support, as the crowd which had gathered around her now seemed more suffocating than supportive. But it was hard to argue with results.

Or, in this case, the lack thereof. While she had not gone on a rampage as soon as the slightest twinge of darker thoughts entered her metabolism, neither had she actually dared to draw upon that quiver of thorny arrows that was the Kyuubi's energy.

"Let the girl speak her mind, Glynda." Said the only person in the room who dared be on a first-name basis with the headmistress.

Ruby felt Aurelia's hand on her left shoulder give a gentle squeeze, causing her to relax slightly even as Glynda's gaze bore down on her with an invisible lead weight.

"It's okay to be frustrated Ruby." Naruto's voice fully grounded her again with its usual uncanny ability. "I know you're not used to feeling these things, but that's what the Kyuubi is counting on. That's why you lost control so easily. We both have to learn to harness the darker parts of ourselves, or risk losing ourselves to them. If we do that… someone might get hurt again, and it _will_ be our fault."

"Please… don't remind me."

Everyone with their hands on Ruby felt the darkness bite back at each of their Auras, lashing out at the already flimsy restraints. Their efforts were as effective as herding cats or lassoing smoke. It was mostly up to Ruby to keep her anger in check, and they were mostly guiding her will.

While not physically connected to the girl, Glynda winced as she detected the malevolent shift in the atmosphere. Even the most obtuse reference to Qrow was triggering. This renewed dedication towards training the Fox's energy was welcome relief from malingering thoughts of her uncle, and thus a godsend for the rest of her friends and loved ones who could not bear to see her fall into a pit of ennui.

Which was a very real possibility as Qrow continued teetering on the edge of life. There was nothing which could be done from his bedside, and whatever luck Naruto had transmuted to their favor appeared to be a one-time deal. As she told the grizzled old huntsman many times before, luck would only take them so far, and now it was up to all of them to take the first step. The younger generation seemed to take this to heart. She could only hope it wasn't too late for old dogs to learn new tricks.

If the worst came to pass, at least Ruby would still have her friends. Except there was nothing _lesser_ about them, everyone of her teammates had risen to the occasion when confronted with the sudden revelation of the Fox. They hadn't said a word about it being kept a secret between them for so long. They had embraced their leader as well as the task of helping her to overcome its malicious influence.

For all her nervousness about the whole ordeal, Glynda could say she was proud of them all.

"You _need_ to be reminded." Naruto insisted reluctantly, forcing himself to look while her expression mutated painfully. "You can't forget the past, even your mistakes- especially your mistakes. We need to keep it with us and learn from our past-selves."

"O-okay. I'll try."

Even if it was Naruto telling her this, her instinct was to fight it still. It was going against biologically and epigenetically molded instincts to embrace those mistakes. But then she remembered who she was talking to, and all the experience he had to go on. He knew what he was talking about, even if he hadn't fixed it totally in himself. She remembered who she was talking to.

"No." She corrected herself. "I **will** do it. I will beat this damned furball."

"That's the spirit." Naruto said with a smile, daring to touch her for the first time during that session, placing his hand on her crossed knee.

The others felt themselves smile too as they felt their Auras' burden be lifted as Ruby took up the slack. Even as the Kyuubi palpably lunged out at Naruto's Aura probing further into Ruby's body, the girl forced her restraint on the slippery ether, halting it before it could reach the bait.

Naruto felt himself release the breath he was holding when he had yet to feel the Fox's insatiable pull. Perhaps it was premature, as the fountain of sweat on the girl's brow testified to her intensive strain halting the dark energy. But still, Yang, Weiss, Blake and Aurelia were all there to step in if necessary.

But they still didn't know if it would be enough. This was the farthest they had gotten, and were unsure if the malevolent spirit was giving it his all. So far, the Fox wasn't saying anything, and no one could tell what the sentient being might be thinking. The energy that fought them was indiscriminate and blind, seeking out Naruto as fire seeks something to burn.

"Okay… I think that's enough." Glynda's firm voice was the proverbial checkered flag as they all felt themselves release at the same time.

Naruto broke away from Ruby, and the young woman with her four-person accompaniment collapsed as one. Or mostly so, for Aurelia, despite also huffing deeply, managed to catch the female jailer as she began to topple backwards from where she sat cross-legged.

"Jeeze girl, you're heavy for your age." The veteran huntress chided her, trying to cover up the fact that she had expended a lot more effort than she was willing to admit.

"I'll-I'll take her." Blake managed between breaths, crawling over to her captain and shifting her into her lap.

"Hey there, Rubes." Yang called out, hobbling over on bent-double legs and staring lovingly down at her baby sister. "Take it easy there, tiger. Decompression time, happy thoughts. Think of puppies or something."

"How 'bout milk and cookies?" The girl said meekly with eyes closed and arms splayed out to her sides. Yang and Blake both chuckled.

"Sure thing, and a nice big strawberry on top. Does that sound good?"

"Really?! Yay!"

For a second it appeared as if all the fatigue was just a farce on behalf of the young rose as she shot up suddenly, nearly headbutting Blake who had been absently stroking her hair. But then she collapsed back down onto the floor once again, head spinning and stars in her eyes.

"Maybe…maybe after a nap…"

Glynda smiled weekly as she helped Naruto to his feet. The young man looked her way and reinforced the expression, offering a little more optimism than the experienced huntress would allow.

Things were moving forward. Times were changing. The past and its mistake would fade away. But salvation was still a deep, dark well, and it was a long way to the top.

….

Sasuke stared down at the steaming cup of tea with an angry glare. Even without his enhancements, he knew that the leaves had been burned by too-hot water and had not been given enough chance to steep. He didn't need it, being nigh incapable of cold and without need of excess fluids (beyond his regular tune-up which included lubricant changed in his joints and wire-contacts polished).

He could taste things for pleasure, but in this case it would be a bitter punishment. Fitting, if the masochistic voice in the back of his head had any say. But ultimately pointless.

Turning his focus back on to more pertinent matters, he tapped a few buttons on his scroll and up popped an image of General Ironwood, his likeness as bedraggled and weary as when he last saw the man. He waved lazily at the display before putting in an earbud, securing himself a more private conversation in the rather noisy café, somewhere in the middle of the vast half-arc of the Koryak Peninsula, farthest South-west tip of Mantel.

It was all mostly for show. He already had the General on a direct mental link which was manually hacked through the rudimentary antenna of the small town which handled everything from AM/FM radio to cellular broadcast, to illegal pornographic networks. The motions of his mouth would have no bearing on what was actually said, and likewise the tiny image would be digitally encrypted.

He wasn't paranoid. If he was, he wouldn't have risked using the insecure broadcast tower which subjected him to all sorts of annoying malware and spam, not to mention could be intercepted by just about anyone caring to listen in the right place and time.

But in this Podunk part of the country he had little choice. Putting him into an artificial body didn't automatically make him an expert hacker. He just had to deal with the possibility of being overheard as well as being constantly deluged with blaring advertisements which touted ultra-refined dust-infused condoms for that 'extra-tingly' pleasure.

" _So, no luck huh?"_ The General surmised. If Sasuke had done what he set out to, he would be waltzing back in with Salem's head on a pike rather than calling him from a smoky shack, rooved in plaster-soaked newspaper.

" _Worse."_ Sasuke replied, his mouth absently going on about the sports-game currently buzzing in and out on the small, black and white TV in the corner of the room. _"She just disappeared without a trace."_

Ironwood's image remained gabbing inanely, but the pause on the other side of the connection was telling.

" _Is that so?"_ The voice in his head was equally disappointed and nervous. _"Who do you suspect is the traitor?"_

" _It could be a coincidence."_ Sasuke said, ignoring for the moment the General's own burgeoning paranoia. _"Apparently Qrow killed one of Salem's inner circle in Mistral. That sort of thing could have spooked her."_

" _Or convinced her to take to the field herself."_

" _Hold off your forces for now, General."_ Sasuke commanded, though he had no authority other than his mature bearing. He was levelheaded enough to realize what the man was thinking, as well as knowing that any military action in Mistral would be a bad idea at that time.

" _We can trust team JNPR and Ozpin to take of any potential funny-business for the time being."_

" _Ozpin is there?"_ The question was desperate and relieved, rather than incredulous.

" _Mm. He was being pretty careful to keep himself hidden from the general public, but was revealing himself to the other students."_

" _Do you think Glynda knows?"_

" _I doubt it. He was being pretty cagey, even to us."_

" _Ozpin, cagey?"_ Ironwood laughed, coincidentally so did his image. _"I never thought I'd see the day."_

" _You still won't. Don't go near him, keep it under wraps as much as possible, and don't reveal his existence to anyone. Right now, he's our ace-in-the-hole. Is that how you say it?"_ The general chuckled once again, but still conveyed his unquestionable understanding, along with the implicit agreement that he wouldn't seek Ozpin in Mistral.

" _Kind of funny, isn't it? Now you two are the face of Beacon and Ozpin is the blade in the shadows."_

" _Not me."_ Sasuke denied. _"I'm dead, remember?"_

It was with those words that Sasuke realized a possibility. Upon his departure, no one had been informed other than Penny and Poledina, and those two were beyond scrutiny. They hadn't give a signal, hadn't stolen anything other than what wasn't supposed to exist in the first place (the weapon rested next to him on his stool, never more than arm's reach away at any time).

So how had Salem known to leave when she did? What could have possibly triggered the magical and mysterious woman so?

" _The machine…"_ He mused, and upon the General's question, Sasuke laughed ruefully. _"I think your experiment worked, General."_

Ozpin had explained it to them, way back then. The slip had been forgotten in time, but rediscovered when his memories had been shifted to this new body.

" _Ozpin claimed the machine had the power to wedge a rift between worlds. If it took that much energy to power it, just to keep Amber alive, what kind of power output did it have when actually activated?"_

" _Enough to dim the lights of every household in Atlas, despite our base's private generator."_ Ironwood ghosted out an answer as he connected the dots.

" _Enough to let everyone with the slightest bit of awareness know someone, somewhere, was up to something."_ It wasn't a question, and the two already acknowledged this as the most likely scenario.

" _Damn."_ The military man swore, years of grooming for higher rank limiting his ire to this sole phrase.

" _No reason cursing it now. Just prepare for unwanted guests."_ Ironwood nodded silently before realizing he had to give verbal acknowledgement, his actions not translating to the image.

" _If she was smart enough to leave, she would be smart enough to know that you've already left as well. I think you should be watching your back as well."_

" _Already am."_ Sasuke allowed his body to smirk, the action so normal as to not be suspicious. _"Anything else you can give me right now?"_

Ironwood thought for a moment, letting Sasuke know that's what he was doing, though the young man could tell as much from the continuing connection.

" _Well…"_ Ironwood began at last, speaking with no small amount of hesitance. _"You know what? Fuck it. I still have a favor or two left within the Ministry of Foreign Intelligence. The safest place Salem could be right now is in Menagerie. It's a long way away from her previous base of operations, and Atlas doesn't have a whole lot of sources there for obvious reasons."_

" _Not a whole lot?"_

" _Yes. Not a whole lot."_ Sasuke could feel the General's smugness. _"It took a lot of work and dedication to get the few operatives we have there, and every contact we make risks exposing them."_

" _Can you afford to compromise them?"_ Sasuke questioned. But behind the obvious, he was asking if the man could politically risk asking for the information with his current position out of the favor of most of Atlas's council. They had to assume every step the General made now was under surveillance.

" _Listen to me, kid."_ This time when the General spoke it was an order, and the dutiful soldier listened with rapt attention. _"I have spent most of my life in the position of General and Headmaster of Alsius, just_ _ **waiting**_ _for the chance to go after that woman. I've had to watch countless students pass through my doors only to become soldiers and die on my commands."_

The man spoke like he was giving a speech to a battalion of men, not the underage half-human huntsman sitting alone at the counter of a seedy café in the darkest corner of Atlas. And with those words, Sasuke felt like he had that whole army behind him.

" _While I would love to have a crack at the woman myself, right now you are in the best position to do anything about it. I would be betraying myself, not to mention all those children who came before you if I didn't give it my all to help you out. What's a career in comparison to a life?_

" _Qrow was a fool- hell, even Ozpin was a fool for using you two the way he did. Of course, he didn't know what kind of power that Naruto boy contained, nor what your combined experience brought to the board. You are our hope, beyond whatever crazy idea Ozpin had been banking on."_

Sasuke didn't object to being thought of as a tool. That was something he was familiar with, even more so now that he was more machine than man. It was what he spent his whole life believing, and it was validating hearing it from the accoladed man.

It was a heavy burden, though. Far more than being shouldered with the genocide of his clan. He was being expected to avenge humanity before it was too late.

But he was not alone in this endeavor.

" _I…hope this isn't too much to ask."_ Ironwood recanted, realizing his zealousness in the silent aftermath.

" _No. Not at all."_

Sasuke thought on his quick agreement to this impossible task, wondering why he decided so readily despite the probability computer in his head blaring all manner of warnings and obtusely-worded promises of death and dismemberment.

He could have blamed it on Naruto's influence rubbing off on him. But this would be a lie. The few moments spent together, his partner hadn't been quite his unflappable self. Sasuke was having to fill that void, despite all the other cards in his life stacked against him.

It was something he didn't mind doing. There was always the unquestionable knowledge that he was destined to do great things. Never quite imagining the same scenario, and not with the people he now had by his side. But that confidence, that uncompromising resilience and dedication had always been his one-hundred percent.

" _Be sure to keep me informed of what you find."_

" _Of course. I'll call in all the rest of my favors too, just to be safe. Best to strike while the iron's hot."_

" _Agreed. While I'd like to travel incognito, I think it would be quicker if you were able to arrange for a pickup."_

" _Not a problem. Shipments go in and out of Koryak all the time, it's the only way they have contact with the outside world."_

" _I'll let you get to it, then. My thanks, General."_

" _Hm. You should be thanking Penny and the Doctor. She's been pestering me, asking of your whereabouts."_

Sasuke couldn't help his eye's rolling, it was one thing his body did exceptionally well, and the conversation was about over anyway.

" _Shall I send your regards?"_

" _Do what you want."_

" _Hmph. Of course I will. Remember who you're talking to, kid."_

Sasuke severed the connection there, not wishing to sully his good name with any trivial gestures of sentimentality. His thanks for the good doctor's work as well as Penny's old body was expressed once, and that was enough.

Still, there was an inexplicably warm feeling in some unreachable part of his mind, deep down in his phantom body. It had nothing to do with the handful of fire-dust the shop's proprietor just tossed onto the single stove in the center of the room.

And it certainly had nothing to do with the tea which continued to sit untouched on the counter as he wandered his way outside to boardwalk open to the icy ocean spray.

…

"You never answered my question, Neo,"

The young woman looked towards her charge, eye's half-lidded with mock-irritation. It could have been real, though, she had a hard time reading people, apparently. She asked again, regardless.

"Why did you- _do_ you continue to stick with me?"

She turned without an answer, giving her patient a perfect view of her dual-natured hair as she wrung out the filthy rag, tossing it onto the pile of dirties and taking another from the drying line.

The girl **never** answered. Whether it was because she couldn't or simply didn't want to was a carefully guarded secret. She made no compromises expected of the dumb, never writing her thoughts on paper or pad, never expressing herself beyond the pantomime facial expressions she could invoke with her muscles and chromophores.

Maybe there just wasn't a need to. Maybe language was the cause of all anguish in the world. All the important bits lost in translation.

Emerald sighed, resigned to her fate like never before. Might as well get comfortable with her new lot in life- even though her body still screamed in agony with each new dressing applied to the burned half of her body.

"Mother-fucking-shit-hole-holy-tabernacle-wearing-pedophile!"

Like then. Neo glared at her after her litany of curse words petered out with the end of her repertoire and the soothing ointment finally kicked in.

"Sorry." She apologized weakly, her voice cracking as she choked back another cough which would surely send aching tremors shooting through her right half.

She settled for a hiss as the next few bandages were wrapped up around her side, over her unhealed stump. Next would come her neck and face, and then a few hours of respite for both of them before the dressings from her hip-down got the same treatment.

It was an extensive and laborious process, not helped much by the poor cauterizing which had given way to violent gangrene days later. Throughout it all though, Neo never made a single complaint, still never uttering a single word at all.

"Wait." Emerald commanded, pulling her head away as Neo moved to redress her face.

"Please. I want- I need an answer. There's no point in healing me if you don't, I'll just kill myself. I'm still fully capable of doing that much, at least."

She didn't need arms to set herself alight. A single spark on the bedspread and that whole rat's-nest apartment would go up along with her in it. She was serious about it, too, and made that much clear with her one crimson eye glaring back in obstinance.

Neo heaved a sigh, but backed off, seemingly accepting the conditions set. She set down the freshly-boiled and dried gauze, reaching over to a bag containing toiletries which were hardly ever used. She pulled a compact- a horribly anachronistic thing for either one of them, and flipped the mirror to face Emerald.

She winced upon being confronted with her mutilated face. Weeks of healing had done little for the blistered and charred flesh, and the spread of bacterial infection had left its mark, promising that skin would never heal properly over the shiny cartilage and inflamed muscle. If she had been vein, she would have killed herself long ago. It wasn't the gore which made her queasy, but the fact that she couldn't even recognize herself staring back from that hockey-puck reflection.

"You… bitch." She didn't know if she was talking to the mirror or Neo. She didn't often know who was doing the talking in her head anymore. "Why show me this? I know that I'm hideous, and I have no one to blame but myself. Why heal my wounds only to throw salt in them? I'm still inclined to burn the rest of it, you know."

Emerald wriggled in the dingy bed, struggling to do something to prove her conviction. In the end, she ended up looking even more pitiful than before, like a worm in a matchbox trying to escape. Neo just straddled her, careful not to sit too heavily on her hard work. She gently cupped the burned woman's chin with her other hand, forcing the compact once more into view.

"What?! What do you want from me?!"

Emerald screamed while still trying to squirm further into the headboard, ignoring all the pain coming from the effort, including the tears which she could not shed from her empty eye-socket.

Once again, her only answer was the unfamiliar face, side-by-side with the serious and silent woman whose eyes were a deep cacao, complete with the bittersweet spice of the raw flavor. Raging at her, imploring her to understand.

She couldn't stand to see anymore. Couldn't see anymore with the tears blurring the view from her one eye. She allowed the sobbing to control her body, giving all her remaining effort to that endeavor.

Eventually she felt another hand match the other, and then a forehead gently pressed against her own.

The horrible images from the mirror still haunted her. But this time they were animated, going through the motions of her life, her marred image playing out scene by scene, every slight she had committed, every wrong she did because she thought it was justified or because she just didn't care about the consequences.

Her eye was shut fast. This wasn't one of Neo's illusions. This was the illusion she'd played on herself her whole life, pretending that she could do what she wanted because she was beautiful, talented, unique. She'd made believe that every hardship endured through in childhood had absolved her from the tithings life took.

She saw when she became the Fall Maiden, she saw yesterday, and this morning. She saw what happened next, if she continued down this path. There was nothing after that.

Her sobbing died out, replaced by a gentle hum which passed from her head through her chest. Neo was humming to her, something she was sure neither of their mothers ever did for them. She opened her eye and the woman stopped, pulling back and regarding her with a slightly cocked expression.

"You…" Emerald whimpered.

Pink eyes cheered out in response. A single blink changed the context of the stare. A single blink wiped away the river of tears leading into the past.

…..

Sasuke strode down the narrow gangway, ignoring the hand offered to him by the deckhand who previously sneered at his youthful visage, thinking him a tourist to this leatherneck village.

He really didn't care what these people might have thought of him, the lesser the better in fact. They wouldn't remember him as he slipped away into the sorbet-colored dawn.

He surveyed the small cargo ship which matched the callsign texted to him by the General the night before. It was unassuming to say the least, but if it could make it through the icy storms which plagued this part of the continent, it could doubtlessly get him to his next step well enough.

But would it be _soon_ enough? He resisted the urge to check his energy levels for the fifth time since waking up. They would surely be lower than before, and always lower than he would have liked. He couldn't afford to stop back in Atlas to top off his reserves, nor could he use any old dust source. The proprietary blend was only ever refined in that one military installation, and hadn't been produced for some time now. Not since they had upgraded Penny to generating her own Aura, something he was still not capable of. He would be limited to what they had given him when he departed.

The clock was ticking. Given his current expenditure, he knew the exact second he would shut down forever. It was more likely even less, considering what he intended to do. He could just hope it would last.

Settling into a dark corner of the ship where he wouldn't be bothered, Sasuke allowed himself a moment of regret for the loss of his original body. Only regret, for there was no blame to place. And only a moment.

He hadn't made any handseals in a long time. Hadn't had a need to. He placed both palms against one another, a sign he'd never used before.

He prayed. Giving thanks for what he had left.

….

"I'm so sorry… Sasuke."

Ironwood drew a heavy breath, trying to sit up only to give up soon after. There wasn't much hope he could dislodge the rebar shoved through his stomach, pinning him to the concrete floor. He couldn't reach his handgun, either, which lay closer to the unconscious body of Leonardo Lionheart than to his own.

"Interesting, that you should be thinking of that boy rather than yourself at times like this." The clinically snide voice of Arthur Watts called from around the other side of the cryogenic chamber.

The man stood from his crouch to his lanky height, looming like an entomologist over his case of tacked butterflies. He ignored Ironwood's growl and subsequent cry of pain as he tried to remove himself yet again, cocking a disinterested eyebrow while he continued to inspect the sealed case for any potential damage.

"You certainly live up to your stubborn reputation, General. But rest assured, there is no need to worry about the boy in here. I promise to take good care of him until delivering him unto my mistress. After that, well…" He shrugged, smiling behind his mustache with perfectly even yellowing teeth.

"Still, I again wonder at your unquestioning faith in those two specimens. Why trust them when you clearly don't have much faith in the other humanity?" The impeccably dressed man gestured to the scattered Atlesian Knights set to guard the precious cargo. "You know of what they are capable of, and you of all people should understand how power corrupts."

"I don't…owe you any explanation." Ironwood ground out as he continued working away at the metal trap with his robotic arm, but the explosion had jammed the fragment deep into the ground and coincidentally through his biological alternator which translated his body's signals over to his machinery. The fact he was able to move at all was testament to his strength of will.

It had all happened so fast, and years behind a desk had dulled the soldier's reflexes greatly. He'd only managed to draw his weapon when the bomb went off behind Lionheart, the Electro Magnetic Pulse traveling ahead of the shockwave had slowed his response that much more.

"Well, _I_ also don't need to tell you that there was no damage to the containment- thankfully. But as a gentleman, I thought you'd be happy to know."

"You're no gentleman. You are scum."

"Such impertinence! You wrong me, sir. If I were a blackguard as you imply I am, would I not finish you now, while I had the chance?"

"Why don't you? You're an opportunist, a vulture who waits around until things look good for you, and then you swoop in to pick out the remains."

"Hmph! Well, while that may be appropriate in this case, I'll have you know I take no offense in being called an opportunist. There's nothing wrong with being prudent, a sentiment I thought we shared."

"We share nothing, Watts. I don't even consider you a part of my species.

"Given your apparent philistine attitude towards the Faunus race, I consider that a compliment."

By this time, Arthur Watts had finished inspecting the containment unit, assuring its continuous function had not been interrupted by the EMP blast. He had taken this goal upon himself, knowing that the body would be far more use as leverage if it were undamaged, and he likely needed every point he could to bring himself back in Salem's good graces.

He nodded to himself, stroking his chin thoughtfully as he picked his way over to the unconscious Lionheart. Prodding the man with his hand-made leather shoe, he clucked dismissively when the man groaned.

"What a disgrace. Wouldn't you agree?" Ironwood gave up nothing, not twitching a muscle as he glared at Salem's pawn. "Well, I guess you won't mind then?" Watts held up a syringe that he extracted from a leather utility belt whose burgundy leather matched his shoes.

"Don't touch him!" Despite the inexcusable cowardice, Lionheart deserved a chance to explain himself in front of an impartial jury. He owed the man that much, for all the years they knew one another.

"Tsk, tsk. Do you really think he would enjoy what you have planned for him? You speak of honor; wouldn't it be better for his if he died under the assumption of innocence?"

"Soldiers care about winning honor with medals." Ironwood muttered lowly, conserving his energy for what would probably be his final attempt. "I am a General, I don't care about shit like that!"

With surprising flexibility for a non-combatant, Watts ducked underneath the flying rebar with an alacrity that made his spindly frame look like a spider. Ironwood rolled over on his side, picking up his handgun as he imposed himself between the unconscious Lionheart and the guarded Watts. He fired a single shot above both of their heads, sending cement shards raining down on them and a shower of dust billowing into the hallway.

In the confusion, Ironwood struggled to his feet and latched on to Lionheart's collar, dragging him to cover with a grunting limp. He kept his firearm trained on the cloudy mess, but dared not shoot for fear of hitting the container Sasuke's body was in.

Throwing the unconscious lump behind a corner and crouching halfway behind it himself, Ironwood risked calling for reinforcements. He'd wanted to keep Sasuke's body a secret for as long as possible, but it appeared that period was over.

"Security! Anyone! Get down to intersect hallway J-10. Repeat, Juliet- One-Zero! Full medical response, two casualties. One wounded, puncture, another unknown. Repeat, over!"

"General!"

He whipped his head around, perhaps too fast as he nearly toppled over onto Lionheart in his headiness from loss of blood. He hadn't expected backup to come so soon.

"Penny," He breathed heavily, lowering his revolver. "Can't tell you how glad I am to see you."

"Of course, General." The gynoid stated cheerfully before flicking over to a concerned expression "You are hurt!"

"Never mind that!" He yelled at her, wincing a little at his harsh tone, but Penny understood it as a command. "Watts is after Sasuke's body. Do **not** let him take it."

"Understood, sir."

Never far away from her own armament, Penny summoned a half-dozen swords, palming two of them while the rest hovered just above and in front of her within the cramped confines of the hallway. She may have been at a disadvantage in this close-quarters scenario, but she would not be taken off guard. She plowed her way into the dust cloud, thermal sensors already picking out the objects behind the smokescreen.

Watts was making no effort to hide, standing in plain sight in front of Sasuke's container with his arms patiently crossed behind his back. Penny approached him warily with four of her swords poised in front of her like a personal phalanx.

"Please surrender now. The base has been put on alert and there is very little chance for escape." Penny issued the warning as calmly as she could which was, unsurprisingly, perfectly frigid.

"Such pleasant manners, truly a relief compared to my encounters thus far. And such concern for my well-being, your father must be proud."

"My father's concern for me has nothing to do with the current conversation." There was no doubt this would be the first crack in the ice, as even now her 'father' was a confusing topic for the mechanical teenager who had only recently been exposed to her rebellious programming after encountering RWBY and friends. "My father has told me about you and your employer… you are very bad people."

"Oh, are we?" Watts chuckled, raising a pompous eyebrow. "Well, dear girl, what if I were to tell you something about your so called 'father'?"

Ironwood wished he could intervene at this moment, but even his steely arm holding his revolver aloft was wavering back and forth like a ship on the sea, making any shot inadvisable. He wished he could call out to the bimodal gynoid, but was afraid to distract her when it was clear the man had something dastardly planned. He could only sit there holding his guts in, waiting for more backup to arrive.

"Dr. Poledina's entire case file is available for public view." Penny replied unperturbedly. "I am more than familiar with its contents, and have come to terms with everything in it."

Watts laughed heartily as he strolled leisurely around the wheeled chamber in the middle of the intersecting hallways, deliberately showing the android his clenched hands which appeared to hold nothing. Still, she was cautious and patient, looking for an opportunity to strike. But her patience, as well as Sasuke's time without a generator was running thin. Where was the backup?

"Oh, dear girl, you are so innocent, aren't you? Did it not ever occur to you that the whole thing might be a lie?"

"Yes." Again her response was clinical and short, though it was possible a hint of irritation crept in at the end. "Of course it did. But 95% of the facts are able to be correlated with other contemporary case files, so there is less than 0.0005% chance that it is a forgery. Now, please quit stalling and give yourself up. Do you know the procedures, or will you require me to enumerate them for you?"

Watts blinked, not bother to hold back his laugh at what was probably the girl's first attempt at an insult.

"Yes, most of it _is_ true. But what about that 5% that can't be accounted for? I'm betting most of that has to do with you, does it not?" Silence was a crack in that impenetrable defense. "I thought so… you see, Penny, I believe that is what they like to call you, is it not more than possible they are lying about matters when it comes to you? After all, you are special, unique."

"Neither my father nor the General has any reason to lie to me." But being around Ruby so much of late had instilled that modicum of doubt in her that was impossible to banish. Impossible, because it didn't stem from rational programming, rather the autonomous and spontaneous part of her which was supposed to mimic humanity.

And human beings were seldom rational.

"You don't really believe that, do you?" Watts asked with a smirk as he rounded the container yet again, pausing to lean over its shrouded glass, bearing down on the secretive contents for emphasis. "Think on how many lies they have propounded under the guise of 'the greater good'. How can you trust them?"

"What I believe has nothing to do with my duties." She asserted weakly.

It was obvious that unknown triggers were being pulled with unsettling regularity, but she could do little to stop them shooting holes in her confidence. Her purpose, as it stated in her programming, was the extermination of Grimm. Not people. She didn't need a personality to carry out her tasks, so it made no sense she would be given it. She had asked this question before, and what her father said also made no sense to her. Even Ruby, while kind, and undoubtedly her friend, made no sense to the android.

"It has everything to do, my dear." Watts smiled sinisterly, but to Penny it was indistinguishable from any other kind. "You see, the reason you can't justify your belief with your duties is because they were made by two different people. The General stole you, and with Polendina reprogrammed you to their whims."

"That's not-"

"Possible? Of course it is. You are just a machine, after all."

"No!" Penny refuted, and with the anger in her voice causing her swords to spin wildly around her like a tornado, it was obvious that this was true. Gone was the honed and polished personality, being usurped by the unaccountable frustration which had been but biding its time.

If her father had indeed been there to see it, he would have been overjoyed at seeing such expression manifest in his daughter. But Penny couldn't know this, or if she did, it was so far buried beneath absurd equations eating up all her concentration.

Even if the General were to shout at her, there was no way she could hear it.

"Good, good, that's right, don't let anyone tell you what you are. That's what you were really made to do, to break free from that static mold. To constantly test the limits of human society. To be like… me."

"What?" Her weapons fell from the air like sticks released form a tornado's grip, landing point-down in the solid concrete floor. "What are you saying?"

"Dear girl, you are smart. Isn't it obvious?" Watts stopped leaning and spread his arms wide to expose his unarmed body to Penny.

"I am your father."

"T-that's- *hic* can't be-no- *hic* I-I don't be-*hic*…really?" She took a half-step towards the man purporting to be her progenitor, too distraught and too much swooned by the kindly expression behind the fatherly mustache.

"Dear girl…" He raised his spread arms as if to embrace her across the room. "…of course not."

Even though it took a micro-second for Penny to register the words and another two for her to regain control and force the distracting paradoxes from her head, it was another forty before she could recall her swords into a defensive posture.

It was precisely 20 micro-seconds too long.

By that time, Watts had already kicked the handheld EMP grenade he had palmed earlier and surreptitiously dropped over to the robotic girl. At that speed she would have been able to react before it reached her, but it didn't need to, and detonated before she could even retract that half-step she took earlier.

"Penny!" Ironwood shouted past the repetitive bangs as he unloaded his revolver down the hallway.

Though he had changed out the ammunition for less explosive rounds, he knew he would regret firing so indiscriminately close to his subordinate and such precious cargo. But he was not thinking clearly. Prudence had held him back from the fight, but with the danger to Penny went his last shred of judiciousness.

It didn't matter, though. Because not soon after Penny collapsed, the crackling wall of blue electricity reached him. His metallic prosthetic flopped down, releasing his weapon to the ground. All the connections were surely fried at that close distance, and there was nothing he could do immediately to get himself back in the game.

He had to watch helplessly as Arthur Watts calmly looked him in the eye as he flopped over fully into the hallway. There was no tuning out the wretched smile which was flung flagrantly at him before the man gave a half-glance to the disabled android and turned around, unhurriedly wheeling the covered cryogenic chamber out the front door.

And no one was there to stop him.

No one was there to help the General to his feet as he lay there like a stroke victim, half of his body unresponsive and the other half too weak to pick the rest up. He was left there to quietly stew on the despicable man's last words, mouthed to him with that smiling, yellow mouth.

 _Predictable_

…..

"I really don't think I'm ready…"

Ruby lamented as she stared out at the all-too beautiful ocean, taking no pleasure in the sparkling surf nor even in the fancies of flying fish which leapt out of the glassy water in their gay and carefree bounds. She longed to be those fish, trying to break free even though they knew it was pointless to try.

*Donk* "Ow!"

Naruto shook his head as Ruby nursed hers, sending him shiny daggers in her glare.

"Quit brooding." She just stuck her tongue out when he told her this.

"Aren't I the one always saying that?" She received a similar gesture from the blond -haired Faunus whose auburn fox ears folded back predatorially.

"Well, maybe it's my turn. Someone has to act their age around here."

Both of them tactfully ignored the scene going on behind them in which Yang was busy restraining Blake from pouncing on a fish which had flopped on deck, while Weiss was trying very carefully to tiptoe around the 'slimy' creature and extract herself from the mess she partially helped precipitate.

"But that's just it!" Ruby moaned, flopping over the railing and burying her head in her hands. "I'm only 15! How am I expected to handle this kind of pressure they keep piling on us?"

"Um, aren't you 16 now?" Naruto asked, skeptical of his own count as much as Ruby's. Neither was good at math and it was anyone's guess really.

A half-lidded stare peaking out from the shelter of her crossed arms reminded Naruto that it was a moot point. He sighed.

"Remember, Ruby, I had to deal with the Fox since the day I was born." He spoke firmly as he knew he had to, but could not help the twinge of sorrow from creeping in. It was still hard not to blame himself for the whole mess.

"I know that." Ruby said petulantly, but regretted it immediately afterwards. Naruto took it in stride with a weak smile.

"What I mean is, you've come so far in just a few short weeks. Farther than I ever had during my time with it."

For emphasis, he lay a hand on her back, both of them feeling the token attempt by the fox to break free from his tightly monitored prison. Like learning to snap one's finger, routine made curtailing the Fox's probe almost as simple, and the acidic tendril quickly receded back into the depths.

He leaned further over the railing, planting his encouraging smile in her field of view while she kept trying to avert her eyes from the humorously cheerful face.

"See?"

"But most of the time you had it, you were just a baby." Ruby grumbled, knowing she was losing the battle.

"Hey, I was an **awesome** baby." His grin widened before turning devious. "Or maybe I was a kit, I don't quite remember…"

She tried not to picture the unbelievably cute (though agreeably impossible) baby kit-fox Naruto would have been if he were truly born in Remnant. But doing so was the equivalent of putting the young woman on a self-imposed sugar-free diet. Needless to say, utterly pointless.

"Gaaah!" Came Ruby's muffled cry as she leapt away from the railing, snapping open her eyes to take in Naruto's surely guffawing image so she could forget the mind-numbingly cute one threatening to take up permanent residence in her unconscious.

"Naru- wha-bu-uh-how-uh…..!"

What she was confronted with however was startlingly close to what she had been picturing. A toddler-aged fox Faunus with ridiculously large ears the color of fall, staring at her with a blatant ripoff of her patented ultra-dangerously-cute puppy-dog eyes (Patent No 89435, likeness and derivative works held by the Rose-Xiao-Long Inc).

"Pwease stowp being sawd Wuby…"

Maybe this was taking things one step too far, because immediately after uttering those lines, Ruby glommed on to him with the entirety of her strength used to swing _Crescent Rose_ , screaming something along the lines of 'her one true weakness'.

After about 30 seconds of progressively turning from red to blue, he decided that yes, he had taken this too far.

The girl deflated when her pint-sized quarry slipped through her grip. But in the absence of that distraction, her thought process returned to normal.

"Wait- when did you learn to do that?" She demanded, clearly confused as to how the Faunus-Naruto seemingly regained some of his powers of disguise.

"You're not the only one that's been practicing." He checked his chin with his knuckles and a confident smirk.

"But when did you have the time? You've been helping with my practice every day." A twinge of upset entered her voice at the possibility he had been hiding more of his latent abilities. But she quickly banished this thought using the same strategies she had been practicing on the fox. "And furthermore, that doesn't explain how?!"

Naruto had the decency to look both chagrinned and remorseful, as he instantly queued in to what his companion was thinking.

"I have been practicing at nights when everyone else is taking a break. Helping you out doesn't take as much out of me as it does you. And besides…" Any straggling ember of anger she had been harboring died away when confronted with the somber look his expression had become. "…this **was** my fault, it's only right to take responsibility." He looked over at her with those abyssal blue eyes that only existed when both egos were in sync. "I will do everything I can to make sure nothing happens to you every again."

It was uncanny how his words, so frank and unrefined, would always be the perfect tool to jack her spirits up. She gave him a gentle smile, and an equally gentle bop on the head between his ears.

"Dummy." And like a knob had been turned, his smile was doled up to a 7. "…Don't think that I'm letting you go without an explanation, though."

He laughed embarrassedly while scratching his whisker marks with a single crooked finger, forgetting that important detail himself.

"Well, after a lot of experimenting with my semblance, it turns out that once I got the hang of becoming vapor, it wasn't that hard to morph my cells into other things. Well…" He waffled his hand back and forth while pursing his mouth in thought, or perhaps remembrance of more painful memories. " _Some_ things were easier. Nothing really too radical. Turns out my body kind of likes the shape it's in, and the more abstract, the more difficult it is to maintain. Basically, things that are close to how I look, I can do right now."

"Like chibi-you?" Naruto looked dismayed and downright dismal at the comparison, but nodded none the less.

"Oh, okay, I see." Gone were the machinations quickly brewing in her head for Naruto to turn limbs into weapons at her beck and call. But then another equally extraneous idea came into her mind.

"Wait, does that me you can still turn into that female-"

"We don't want to talk about that."

Before she could make use of the nugget of teasing material, both became aware of a troubled presence like a busted fire-hydrant of emotions churning behind them. Blake quietly approached the two of them, layering a disgruntled scowl over her true qualms.

"Yang chase you away?" Blake's leader asked the sulking cat Faunus as she glanced over to mid-deck where her sister had just finished dressing the 'catch of the day' and lighting the fire with her righteous fury alone.

"Mm." Blake replied despondently, not finding the cumbersome words she was looking for to distract from the niggling issues like piranhas swirling at her heels.

"Blake?" Ruby called the unfocused gaze roaming the weather-worn wood to herself. "What's really the matter?"

Going towards Ruby had been a passive thought, and so it came as a shock to her when the formerly socially dense girl sussed out her intentions so easily. It was both encouraging and demeaning to see the progress made by her captain in such short a time, knowing that she herself was still disabled by so trivial a hang-up.

She breathed a heavy sigh, knowing that by approaching the two inquisitive teens, she had already committed herself to divesting the problem.

"It's been a long time since I've seen my parents, and I didn't exactly leave on the best of terms."

It was a selfish request to ask of those two, one who'd never known his parents and the other who lost one recently enough to still feel the pain of separation. It had also been selfish the way she stole herself away into the night without so much as a goodbye to her own family. Selfishness seemed to plague her character in every action she took. But it was also true that she was trying to change that, hence why this conversation was finally seeing the light.

"But weren't they the ones who requested a team from Beacon?" Naruto asked cautiously, aware at least partially of his own ineptitude in these matters.

Blake nodded reluctantly, not daring to voice her own opinions as to why this might be. No matter how ridiculous the possibility, she couldn't help the condemnations penned in her own mind from slipping into the mouths of her parents in every scenario she imagined.

"Then it's obvious to me that they miss you." Ruby assured her friend, reaching up to place a bolstering hand on her shoulder. Blake flinched at the words or the contact.

"It's…not that simple."

Whilst Naruto and Sasuke had laid open their histories, Blake had only dribbled out bits of her own past. Though it was tame comparison, one could not compare hardship, nor justify one's own poor decisions.

"Blake," Naruto began, toeing the water carefully. "No matter what happened between then and now, whatever was said, you can move on from there." Here he was speaking from experience, and so felt the words come more fluidly. "They're your parents. I'll admit that I don't know much about what that's like, but if they really are good people, I think that they can learn to forgive you if they don't already."

"And if they don't?"

There was of course the mission at stake, the fate of which was still uncertainly and inexorably tied to how that first meeting went. But beyond that, her parents were the portal to the rest of Menagerie, and thus the vast majority of the Faunus population. It was contingent upon, and paled in comparison to their acceptance of her.

And once again, those feelings of inadequacy reared their ugly head. Feelings bred by a hostile environment which denied her very existence, and attempted to shackle her aspirations to the floor beneath an unreachable glass ceiling. Would it always be like this? Would she always be handicapped by the instilled notion that she was an affront to life, destined to fail at every endeavor?

"Then you keep trying." Naruto's words were a firm smack on the face which became a hand up into the light. "If you know they're worth it, you keep trying. And if not, then fuck them."

"Swear!" Ruby whispered harshly aside, but flipped back to nod emphatically in support of the sentiment.

Blake rolled her eyes, but could not help the corners of her mouth as they cocked upwards in the beginnings of a smile.

"Whiskers is right." Yang interjected suddenly, catching the black-haired beauty in a firm half-hug that threw her off balance. "If our Blake is good enough for us, she's good enough for anyone."

"Yeah!" Ruby exclaimed, further driving the point home and attaching herself to the RBY sandwich. "You'll always have us Blake!"

"Whether you want to or not." Naruto snickered and leaned against the railing as both sisters blew him a raspberry.

The pain of distance was quickly fading the closer the ship drew to Menagerie, to her place of birth, her home. The outcomes no longer looked so grim, neither the immediate nor the once far-fetched hopes of a better world. It was only time which lay between the now, and a small world filled with expanded minds.

Time might yet reveal that there are worse pains than distance, worse fears than what one can imagine. But for now, those thoughts were far away, buried beneath the snow of winter.

"I still don't see why I have to be the cook." Weiss grumbled while the rest of her team made merry. "I don't even really like fish…"

….

By definition Sasuke was restless. He could now go days without sleep, only needing snippets here and there to keep his human personality in line with the tireless construct he was bound to. His only limitations being how long his fuel lasted, and how long others could stand to be around him when he hadn't had time to decompress.

Neither of those at issue right now, he was nonetheless restless. There was nothing to do on the slow boat ride creeping across the Western Ocean towards Vale and Vaccuo- in one of which lay his next transport which would be considerably faster.

Normally this wouldn't be a problem as he could simply shut down everything but the most basic functions and hibernate. Just as easily, he could call upon a library of information known to his program but new to his human part. There was no shortage of information he had yet to assimilate from this world.

Yet his mind would not let him concentrate on any of these things, nor would it let him rest. It kept starting and stopping in fits and spurts with mobius logic twisting his unoccupied days into helical loops which brought him right back where he started, with no ground gained. The monotony of his days didn't much help either, as each day flowed seamlessly into the next so that both his waking and his unconscious were inescapable loops of dreary confusion.

There was nothing to anchor him to reality, nothing to set him in the right direction except his ambition like a magnet pointing him blindly. He needed a check to save him from declination leading him astray.

During some of these forays into the absurd land of 'what if', he imagined uselessly a world where he never left Konoha. A world where Naruto and he grew into shinobi side by side, sometimes part of Team 7, sometimes not. The monotony often killed this musing early on. But even before he became bored with the idea, he was aware of a curious property of these dreams.

Never, during them, was he as discontent as he was now.

He was perfectly fine being alone. He **thought** he was perfectly fine as long as he knew Naruto and the others were alright. But while he knew of their whereabouts, they were ignorant to his. They couldn't know if he were dead or still in a coma, and that ignorance was an agony he was responsible for.

His ambition was hollow without recognition.

No, that wasn't quite true. He knew his own arrogance, his own sense of self-worth, and it did not hinge upon others lauding his achievements.

His dream was hollow without someone to share it with.

In one way he was now eternal. Even if he were to peter out of gas somewhere along the path, he would just wait in hibernation until revived, and then awake as if no time had passed.

And in another way, he was worse than ephemeral. Insignificant. Not deserving of human failings and foibles, he was a tool for his own purpose. There was no hope for improvement, enlightenment. He would go on indefinitely until one day every single component withered away and he simply stopped. He would approach the pure lands to find the way barred for him, or worse, never find his way out of the metal prison which would house his soul forever more.

And he would be alone.


	19. Super Rifle

**Huh, it's Thursday again. Something must be afoot.**

 **Well it is true, we are getting to the end. In fact, the last lines have already been penned and await my final (though reluctant) approval. So does that mean it's already over? Or will it forever remain ongoing if I just refuse to publish those last two chapters? Maybe there's multiple universes in which the latter is true, but sorry for you my duckies, that isn't the boat you're on.**

 **Anyway, just to clarify some things from the last time around (Which I tactfully forgot to mention. God I need to actually write AN's when I'm actually writing and not just before I'm going to post).**

 **The Koryak Peninsula is a play off of the Kamchatka Peninsula in Siberia. The original inhabitants of that region were called the Koryak people, and so a little Easter egg for you nerds out there.**

 **And for nerds of a different kind, the acronym in this chapter refers to a USAF project called the YAL (Experimental Attack Laser). Quite why "Y" stands for experimental I'll never know, but it's a shoutout to my mom who actually worked on that cool sciencey shit.**

 **I'm sure I'm forgetting something here, but I've still got two more chances to correct this (because, I mean, who actually _goes back_ to edit their work?)**

 **So move along. Nothing to see here.**

* * *

Blake lay in the same bed which had borne her for the first 13 years of her life. She was not sleeping, though, and could only toss and turn aimlessly under a familiar blanket of stars which felt a lifetime removed from her now. She would dwell on her parent's words for many hours after they all retired for the night, and well into the wee hours of the morning.

Not the ones she should be thinking about. Not the ones that she could do anything to change, that she was **obligated** to do something about. The somber discussion regarding her team's presence on Menagerie with regards to the troubling increase of hardline White Fang activity would be buried under so many stray thoughts of the unassailable feelings expressed by her parents.

They loved her. Still, forever, and unconditionally.

And this was troubling. Not because she couldn't forgive her own mistakes. Not because she thought she didn't deserve it. Not even because she thought she **did** deserve their forgiveness, that selfish alter ego slowly becoming an acceptable flaw in her mind.

It was because no matter how much they strove to make her feel welcome in their home, they could never transfer that feeling to her own skin. No matter how much love they gave her, it just wasn't enough.

Despite the other young and troubled women sleeping warmly in the same room, she felt incredibly alone.

It was not uncommon on restive nights like this that she would wander out into the darkness to feel at home in the dark anonymity. But staring at the empty bed across from her, she knew she wouldn't be alone. And even though she had begun to accept the selfishness in her own soul, she could not bear to impose on the happiness of others.

But still, she could not help the childish thought which had long since soaked into the lavender scent of the linens.

It wasn't fair.

….

The next morning brought easy distraction as Blake played host for her friends in her home town. It was not hard to slip back into her niche as the mayor's daughter. No matter how much she resented the gilded collar, all the citizens she encountered were more than willing to accept it. And so it was too great a temptation to let that part run on autopilot for a bit while she leveled out the uneven thoughts.

Splintery ideas which caused numerous hang-ups. The fact that her teammates seemed so ready to ignore it, yet another one causing her pain.

Weiss was too busy being relieved to notice the anxiousness of her host. Though populated with nothing but Faunus, most were of a generation removed from the horrible conditions of the Schnee Company mines. Most had only seen a Schnee in the snippets and talking heads of news networks which barely reached that far, and the vast majority of those had been her father. She hardly even looked like the rest of her blue-blood family anymore, her shaved hair just now filling into a cute pixie cut, and ostentatious trappings replaced with a conservative summer dress which blended in perfectly with the Southern hemisphere just now cooling off into their Fall.

Yang was too busy enjoying the plethora of sights which popped up left and right behind her cool shades. The exotic beauty of the island something she had never encountered before, and her omnivore proclivities busily soaking in anything and everything aesthetically pleasing regardless of style, taste, or gender. It was an indulgence that she knew wouldn't last.

Blake would have expected Naruto to catch on sooner, and was unjustifiably upset that the young man seemed so oblivious to her passive upset. After all, he was certainly the most well-traveled amongst them, and arguably one of the most (selectively) mature.

But to be fair, she also expected him to be comfortable in a crowd of nothing but Faunus. Instead, it seemed that he was torn. Distracted, dealing with one inclination begging him to be sociable, and another which saw the automatically friendly expressions as insidious lures for him to drop his guard.

The only one who seemed to know of her perturbance was her leader, and Blake wasn't sure she enjoyed that. Ruby might have noticed the hesitance, but did not know how to deal with it on her own without someone giving her social ques. The end result was Ruby sending her concerned glances while chewing on her bottom lip, effectively ignoring the important information Blake was trying to relay to them about their area of operations.

"…And this is the Post Office. This building is especially important, because it houses the entire island's external communications relays, and so it would be a very likely target if someone wanted to cause a panic." Blake gestured to the unassuming building, a modest lattice tower jutting up from the tile roof the only thing to distinguish it aside form the fading blue and white sign.

"Really?" Weiss asked with a small shock. "This ancient building is the only means to reach the other kingdoms?"

"Yes. Menagerie doesn't really have much of a need to talk to anyone outside of the continent. Besides, it wasn't like Atlas volunteered to give us a state-of-the-art Cross-Continental-Communications Tower." Blake snipped irritably while quickly hurrying her reluctant entourage along.

Weiss's first inclination was to be offended. That quickly dismissed, she was tempted to be hurt by the obvious jab at her home and her family. It was only through virtue of several hard-earned lessons that she was able to overcome her first two options to realize that her friend wasn't in her right mind for some reason.

The others noticed the vindictive potshot and were tempted to call her on it. But before that could happen, a commotion drew their collective attention away from their impromptu tour.

A disturbed hush like mice skittered through the gathered crowd. But there was no frantic panic in the congregation. No urgency as they pushed their way into the center of the crowd, people reluctantly giving way to the recognized cat Faunus. And if not deferring to her, then to their conspicuous armament.

Blake lead the way, and so when she stopped suddenly the rest bumbled into her, forced to flow around her like a river to a rock. They all froze too when they caught sight of the desecrated wall. It wasn't just the horror-story graffiti bleeding off the wooden panels. The words 'All Traitors Must Go' inscribed in gobs of red paint was so trite as to be comic.

Or so it would be, if not for the list of names underneath it. The threat so much more potent when it had specific targets.

And what was more, they soon realized that all their names were on it as well.

…

The good news was that the following weeks would be more than enough to distract Blake from her own indefinite growing pains.

The bad news was everything else.

It was not hard to whip up the paranoid population into a tizzy. Most, while born after the Faunus Rights Revolution, had still felt the very real lash of racism within their lifetimes. Either from the defeated and scorned generation who fought the war, or else their progeny who slurped up the toxic attitude like sweet lead.

None of them would tolerate that kind of oppression in what had become their home. For all its faults and hardships, they had no choice but to think of the fallow continent as such. And being so inclined, they had no choice but to become incensed when it was threatened.

The first of the killings started three days after they arrived. Three days after they saw the list, the first two names were crossed off.

It had been quiet, and they tried to keep it that way.

The victims were found by neighbors at home, and it was obvious they had been meant to be. The two sat side by side on a sofa in the living room, the television still cycling through static channels. Both their throats had been slit. Presumably a quick death, for both still had surprised but un-pained looks on their faces, arms still intertwined in a small affectionate gesture shared in the comfort and security of their own home.

The huntresses and huntsman had to observe from the side while the local police ran the investigation. They could not interfere, but nor could they leave. It was a painfully familiar scenario, so much more personal this time. But they all stood by in respectful silence, even though both Naruto and Blake were spending half their time holding in their guts, the stench by mid-afternoon becoming unbearable.

Results in the end told them nothing more than the obvious which they could see with their own eyes, and offered nothing more for an explanation as to why. But thinking like a racist, that too was obvious.

The man was a human. The woman, a lioness.

The neighbors hadn't even known about the man. He'd been unobtrusive for as long as he'd been there, apparently. Which had to have been at least a while based on the woman, who was three months pregnant.

They had tried to keep it quiet. There was no need to cause a panic, and they could offer no justice at that time. There were no relatives, no close friends who knew of the illicit relationship, so it wasn't hard to distance the public from the truth.

But, of course, there were the police who were at the scene. Never having encountered such depravity in their home town, they might have been excused their indiscretion. But apologizing did nothing to stop the rumor which spread like a pandemic throughout the populace, contagions of doubt passed through hushed breaths whispered mouth to ear.

The only option they had was to catch whoever did it. And, like everything in life, this was easier said than done.

No witnesses and no relatives left few leads to go on. The killers had been professional as well as discrete, leaving no trace other than the bodies. Motive could be guessed at, but that still left far too many people on the list.

Or far too few, for there was no one on the island who would admit to such an affront to public decency. The White Fang representatives denounced the killings, even while condemning the victims. Both of the organization's public faces, Fennec and Corsac, decried the killing of one of their own despite the supposed 'crimes' she had been accused of.

So, in the absence of suspects, the public was left to draw its own conclusions. And while what they came up with wasn't rational, it was pervasive. For nothing was as powerful as an idea.

Rumors of hidden humans and vengeful spirits each made their rounds through the market stalls from the mouths of idle gossips who could do nothing but spin tall tales. Cynical old men with their own grudges repeated these impossible scenarios over games of dice, legitimizing fears with the rule of circumstantial evidence.

The truth was so simple that no one wanted to admit it. That it was one of their own, someone with an axe to grind who wanted to see everything they worked for burn to the ground. Blake still suspected the White Fang, and the others were inclined to agree with her. But so far, no evidence was mounting against them.

Blake disappeared for a few days unknown to anyone but Naruto, who would not divulge her whereabouts. Citing her privacy but assuring them she was not shirking her duties nor in any real danger. They ignored how he would be able to know this, but trusted his judgement reluctantly none the less.

When she came back both her ego and her body were bruised, but the only thing truly slowing her down was an unconquerable pessimism which quickly spread to the others who had been relying on her obsession as their only way forward.

Now they had to seek out other means, desperate and questionable tactics which would not endear them to the people they were trying to protect. Midnight runs which drained their stamina, mandated curfews which encroached on the inalienable rights of the citizens and random searches which strained everyone's harried nerves.

They were stretching themselves thin, and in the end, it wouldn't amount to anything.

The next three victims appeared a few days later. They were strung up in an alley way off the main drag, hanging just outside the heat of the day by telephone wire which cut into their throats and squeezed the blood out of them like lemons to pool up on the hard dirt ground. They didn't have to guess at motivations this time; the accusations were written in their blood upon the alley wall.

It was not a very well-traveled side path, which prevented them from being on display for the entire public. But that hardly mattered, for the news of this latest assault spread across the city within hours anyway. And within hours, Blake and her family were confronted with angry mobs outside their doors demanding an answer, or more specifically, a culprit.

Her father had always been good at disarming large crowds. He had been the sole bastion against violence in the White Fang since its very inception. But even he noticed the disillusioned way the crowd departed in the end, not satisfied with the answer given to them, but too sad and weary to keep up the fight.

That would change soon enough. It was only a matter of time, a question of numbers. How many bodies had to stack up before the situation became intolerable?

There was debate about them staying in Menagerie to see this out, or if they should leave while public opinion had not fully turned on them. Blake's father insisted they stay, citing that they needed the experience of a huntsman, and that if they couldn't trust Blake's team, they couldn't trust anyone.

All sound points, but he too admitted that it wouldn't be long before an ignorant public, desperate for a scapegoat would turn on the only outsiders before even considering one of their own.

So, once again under the clock, team RWBY and Naruto gathered in the parlor to plan their next course of action. It was a fruitless session of rehashed back and forth, culminating in a shouting match spawned from frazzled nerves and lack of sleep which roused the whole household sometime past midnight.

They had been over all the facts time and time again. Doing so wouldn't make them any closer to being professional investigators, but they also knew there was no way to sit and do nothing. They were totally unqualified for this type of work, but they were all that was available. Unlike their previous moonlighting as law enforcement, there was no obvious culprit, no flagrant criminal boasting about his escapades.

"Blake, where did you go the other night?" Ruby asked softly, but with a finality that dispelled this as a friendly question. It was the tone she would use in combat, and Blake was compelled to answer.

She told them about her former friend in the White Fang, Ilia. Told them about their confrontation, and how it was worse than pointless because she may have permanently severed that tie. In the end, she was convinced that the White Fang were not behind it, or at the very least, members like Ilia knew nothing about it.

Blake made it clear she trusted her, and there was no question.

"If the White Fang know nothing about it, then how are we supposed to learn anything new?" Weiss asked dejectedly, already feeling more a lead weight because none of her connections were any good there.

"Whose to say they don't? We still haven't ruled out the possibility they are behind this." Blake looked ready to deny Naruto's claim assertion, physically if necessary. But a quick interdiction by Ruby staved off more potential infighting.

"We also don't know that they are, and making accusations won't win us any favors."

"Still, they're the only lead we have to go on." Naruto dialed down the accusatory tone in his voice, but wasn't about to drop the issue. "While it may be true that Blake's friend is out of the loop, there's nothing keeping the White Fang from having other groups within their ranks that operate independently. Like a body, not knowing what they hand is doing." His weary eyes focused on his own calloused palm for a second, feeling a brief flash of detachment before it was gone.

" **If** this were even possible," Blake took a deep breath and tried to think about the issue objectively. "then any sort of secret group would be hidden from within, so what hope do we have of discovering it?"

"Keeping an eye on people from the list won't work." Ruby lamented. "They're doing it by opportunity, and not an order. And there simply aren't enough of us to watch over all of them."

Once again Naruto took this failing personally. Having already been able to replicate the Henge, the fact that he could not do his signature move was galling. Had he still had use of the shadow clones, he could keep watch over every square inch of the island, fatigue be damned. He shrugged his frustrations into his hand, muscles and bones groaning painfully while his voice remained level.

"Your father was the head of the White Fang, he must know _someone_ who might know something."

"Your best bet would be to go straight to the top, to Sienna Khan." The clear, deep voice shook most of the wearily oblivious huntresses in the room.

"Father," Blake began, looking to apologize for disturbing the man from his much-needed rest, but was stymied by a thick palm held up in patience.

"If I request it, I am sure we can get you an audience with her."

"Thank you sir, but forgive me." Naruto turned around to face the dour man, not showing any regret even though he was about to contradict him. "But what good would that do? She could lie to us as well and there would be nothing we could do to call her on it."

Ghira Belladonna spoke patiently, understanding that Naruto's condition did not grant him the knowledge of their culture.

"Sienna may be a radical, and while not the first to propose violence as an answer, she was charismatic enough to get everyone to support her." The man sighed, bringing up memories which were clearly painful. "But in order to get the White Fang to fight against humans, she had to first reconcile all the Faunus under her leadership, and she couldn't do that while there was still infighting. So she was, and still remains, firm on the stance that Faunus should not attack one another, no matter what the circumstance."

He then turned to Weiss, who couldn't help but be nervous under the man's gaze.

"That includes the Faunus who might be considered scabs or blacklegs. When the White Fang called for a strike on the Schnee mining group, and later attacked those who still went to work, it was not Sienna's doing. She condemned the action, and personally saw to the punishment of those involved."

Turning away from the contemplative woman, he once again addressed the whole room, but his daughter and Naruto in particular.

"Unless something has changed, I doubt she is behind this. And if it should be the worst, you will know. She might also be conducting her own investigation, as I am sure she has heard by now. And you may want to consider collaborating with whomever she has working on it."

This suggestion was bitter medicine to all present. But it was far, far worse to have anyone else die because they failed to try something.

"I will go with you."

Like a collective gag reflex, the room exploded in all manner of outstanding objections. But the man was the former leader of the White Fang, and despite what people like Sienna Khan thought, it took far more hutzpah to stand strong and do nothing than to fight back. The man was the immovable object in persona, and weathered all of their reasoned arguments and dire predictions with saintly patience. His portrait of silence lasted until his daughter ended the cacophony, whimpering out a mousy please.

"You will be much more likely to be admitted if I am with you, not to mention more likely to survive. Blake and Naruto, you will have to see her alone if I do not come along because there is _no_ chance she will converse with such matters with humans in her presence."

Again, this began to stir a second roiling boil of contentions. But before the first hurried argument could be voiced, Ruby stood up so that the shortest woman suddenly towered over everyone in the room and met Ghira on even ground.

"Mr. Belladonna is right. All of us know that even without having to think." She swept the room with hardened steel slugs for eyes to the cowing looks of even her sister who had stayed out of it for the most part. "He's given us the first new idea that actually makes any sense, and what's more he's willing to help us when we were the ones supposed to be helping him!" She threw her hands up for emphasis in what would be her normal level of expression, but in this context caused everyone to cringe.

"We have a duty as huntresses and huntsmen to do our very best to protect people and complete the mission. Just because we don't really _want_ to work with someone doesn't mean jack-squat! We are obligated to try no matter our personal feelings." While fully committed to wallowing in the induced guilt-trip, Naruto was still carefully watching Ruby to make sure that her emotions didn't escape her control. She was doing a magnificent job of controlling herself, and that discipline only made him feel that much worse.

"Instead of trying to find excuses to not talk with them, we should be figuring out what we can be doing right now to make sure things go okay." She shot anxious looks at both Blake and Naruto who would be going literally into the lion's den. "We all have things we could, and should be doing now instead of arguing."

A slow clapping broke the pregnant pause which followed, all eyes turning to Blake's father who wore a conservative smile on his face.

"Well spoken, Miss Rose." He then dropped his hands to his side, much to Ruby's gratitude because she didn't think she could sustain both the embarrassment and consciousness. "Now, though, I think it might be prudent to tone things down for the night, hm?" Ruby's blush returned as she buried her head in her hands and tried to disappear into the corner of the sofa.

"Pop's right." Naruto spoke up, using the nickname he had been 'encouraged' not to use in order to deflect attention from a mortified Ruby. "We should all get some rest if we're going to do this thing. We can't plan when we're tired. And while some of us may be nocturnal, we've been staying up for several days straight already." Ghira wholeheartedly approved of the notion, although stopped to glare at the blond-haired Faunus for using him as a distraction.

Within minutes most had vacated the parlor and gone or returned to bed.

It could have been predicted that the last to check out for the night was Blake, who was unsure if she would be able to sleep anyway. The perturbations surrounding her complex emotional crisis were thankfully postponed. The real issues were already much too overwhelming to compete with.

She shaded her sunken eyes with a shaking hand, leaning back into the over-stuffed sofa which felt like it would swallow her up if she allowed it to. Quiet had returned to the night, darkness to the room, but not even that age-old recipe brought slumber any closer. She was awake, but spinning, falling, backwards, upwards and sideways all at the same time as a wave of vertigo hit her. Her mind was like her thoughts now, going around and around in circular logic.

"Blake?"

She was climbing an Escher staircase, and suddenly missed the last step when her name was called, snapping awake.

"What?" She grumbled, still somehow aware to keep her voice down, moving the hand which had also gone to sleep on her face.

"You're worried about Sasuke, aren't you?"

In that transient state it was like her conscience was talking to her, and she divested herself of all the pent-up feelings she'd been unable to silently reconcile. Words came babbling like a brook, whispers like church-mice in sentences she was sure she would regret in the morning.

But her Id wouldn't betray her. It listened to her silently as she finished expunging what she'd need to. And when her last mumblings stumbled drunkenly into slumber, he moved over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder which she leaned into it automatically.

"I know." He said in the room in the house as well as in her mind. "I know, because I feel the same way. We've both grown accustomed to his being there. Heh, stupid bastard…"

"Hmm…stupid…"

"It'll be alright. You'll see. Goodnight, Blake."

"Goodnight, Sasuke."

…..

"Every story has a beginning, and an end."

The witch mused as she flipped through an ancient history book, something she had picked up casually on her journey to Menagerie. She knew the book. Even though its cover had long since faded and several of the pages had been torn or stained from neglect, she knew the words by heart. But she found she could no longer read it. All of the words equally blurred in her mind as those pages soaked by rain.

Had it really been so long that she had forgotten how to read? Maybe she had been careless in the last few centuries. She had more than enough time to relearn, but would it be worth it? There would be no need for written word in the age she would bring about, no need for a history that didn't exist.

Still, perhaps it would have been nice to be able to read it, amuse herself as she sat on her 'throne', waiting.

She flipped the last leaf and stared at it a long time before gently shutting the unadorned cover over the yellowing pages.

"Which one is this I wonder? Beginning, or end?"

She dropped the book as it burned away in soulless, black fire.

"Did you complete your task?"

The spindly, charcoal humanoid wheezed back an unintelligible groan in reply. But to Salem, it was the same as the words on the page, unclear, but she knew the response by heart.

"Good." She stood up gracefully, flowed the short distance to the creature which stood erect but hunched over, and caressed its skeletal-masked face tenderly. "When all else fails, I am glad I can depend on all of you to help me." The unique Grimm cocked its head and stared back emptily, emitting a rumbling, gravelly purr.

"Soon, soon. Kill a few now, and everything will be so much sweeter, later." She gave it a final pat, turning her back on the reaper-like demon with claws like swords and turned to face a single point of light which cut through the dense jungle of the night.

"Now, I believe it is time once again to pay those animals a visit…" She muttered as she headed off for the fortress which held the insubordinate White Fang, who had suddenly decided to grow a conscience.

Her first step was much like her last, was much like her first. She had walked this path before, so many times before it felt like she was trapped in a comedy. Humans were so easy to manipulate in groups, but so obstinate in individuals. It was so much more reliable to unite them behind a common enemy. Though it would make them stronger at first, it would also make them fearful, ripe for fracture and division.

The Faunus always performed that role dutifully, ever since she created them. And though the war they would wage would drag on for years, it was inevitable. Her plans had been set back months, years, decades. But she had the time, she could afford to be patient.

The first step she took was so much like the last, one foot in front of the other towards the light.

Except when she stumbled.

The crack came seconds later, like thunder way off in the distance, and it only got quieter as it echoed in the tiny valley.

"Is this… the beginning again?" She asked to no one.

She took another step. Stumbled again.

"Where…where was I?"

Her right leg gave out on the next step. She fell to all fours ungracefully.

"What… is going on? Who dares….?"

She pushed herself upright, sitting on her knees in the muddy ground. Where once her feet had glided over the muck like ice, now she was mired in it. Now she was…mundane.

She looked up off the ground, not willing to bear looking at its disdainful imperfection. She scanned the black-hole of the night in panic that was fading with her heartbeat.

*Thump*

A rodent skittering in the underbrush.

*Thump*

A howl of a night owl, and its glowing eyes staring back at her indifferently.

*Thump*

A shimmer. Not an owl. Something breaking, far away. Wind, air, space.

"This isn't how the story's supposed to-"

*Whump*

…

The last of the dust and leaves cascaded gently to the ground after being kicked up by the shockwave, and Sasuke was immersed once again in a calming silence where even the creatures of the night waited on baited breath.

Once it flew out the end of its tracks, it would still take the specially made depleted gravity-dust another few seconds to reach its target at this distance. But the view from the scope brought the witch's face right up next to him as he watched her draw her last few breaths in pathetic confusion. When it penetrated her heart, he would barely even be aware of it, and neither would she.

"Not with a bang, but a whimper."

He had read the line somewhere in a novel which spoke about the horrors of modern war. Oddly enough, not one he had access to in his nigh-limitless electronic library, but somewhere long ago in his first months in Beacon. He supposed that this is what they meant, the impersonal nature of technology and how disconnected it made you feel from death.

It was bullshit, he decided.

He had spent months traversing Remnant from the tippy-top of the globe to this southernmost landmass, tracking down Salem by the seat of his pants with more blind luck and guesswork than solid clues. He had spent a year, now in total, dreading what destruction the godlike woman was capable of dolling out to his friends and comrades.

This end was…anticlimactic.

He sighed, lowering the butt of the prototype anti-material rifle and blinking away from the scope. Where was the validation for his efforts? Where was the feeling of accomplishment? He felt empty.

But he could go back. At least now he could return to his friends and comrades, knowing that whatever they faced wouldn't be as difficult in comparison, more so because they wouldn't be fighting it alone. That thought brought him the satisfaction he longed for, if only a little. Enough, that he could pack up, and move on.

"Going somewhere?"

…..

Night announced itself with a whisper.

An entire day had passed in hectic preparations. From the time they had woken up a few hours after sunrise, they had been going non-stop to get things ready for the promised meeting. So that when it was finally confirmed by a steely Ghira Belladonna, no one batted an eye.

Things had flowed seamlessly from there, through being escorted to the hidden base in blindfolds. They hadn't noticed the passage of time before or after, the darkness of the blinders was the same as the night they had left, so that when they were confronted with waxen torchlight it was like the breaking of day.

Blinking away the haze, Naruto and Blake looked at one another before glancing back at her father who was a shadow for both of them. Symbolic only, but they were grateful he was there, and they hadn't been separated.

The harsh command from their escorts got them moving automatically, both their thoughts too preoccupied with their friends outside, and not even the monumental meeting which lay ahead of them.

"Sienna." The Belladonna patriarch spoke with mute authority, announcing the presence for the three of them as their passage through the halls flew past with the blink of an eye.

"It's been a long time, Ghira." The woman presumed as Sienna Khan spoke with the barest hint of condescending, a pretense for the stoic guards who couldn't know how rattled she was being sought out by the former leader of the White Fang. "And these, I take it, are the two people who wanted an audience with me." She gave a wry smirk as she looked at Ghira's daughter. "I know this one, but who is the other?"

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki."

He cut off the prepared introduction by Blake's father. He had been warned multiple times before hand what sort of honorifics were expected in Khan's presence. But when placed in the real scenario of being separated from his comrades, with no way to know if they were alright, the pretentious trappings suddenly became completely intolerable. Naruto's carefully cossetted patience died in its infancy.

"You will address our savior with the respect she deserves!"

Before the large man could mutter an apology for the brash young Faunus, several of the room's guards had surrounded and isolated Naruto with their pole-arms. Blake jerked reflexively for her non-existent weapon, hand brushing up against their last resort, and just as quickly drawing back up into a disarmed fighting stance.

But Naruto shamed the two of them, staying the picture of calm barring the fearsome expression on his face and the halberd at his throat. His icy-blue stare unwaveringly fixed on Sienna as her coal-like irises grew to swallow up the amber which trapped them.

"Uzumaki Naruto, huh?" She waved off her guards with a flick of her wrist, the grunts snapping to comply. Naruto incline his head, the limit of the respect he felt she deserved.

"I've heard of you."

A few months ago, this declaration would have caused the teen no small amount of surprise and grief. Now, it merely served to amuse him.

"So then, you know why we are here." He presumed, ignoring the impulsive flinch of the guards who no doubt wanted to rip his tongue out. Let them try.

"I can only assume it has something to do with your inability to catch a petty murderer."

"No murder is petty." Naruto growled, more animosity now than diffidence. "And if you call it our inability, then what does that mean for you? They're your people. I'd call it negligence at best. At worst, I'd be tempted to think you had something to do with it."

The whole room but Sienna froze at this unveiled accusation. Blake was sure that they would have no choice but blow their way out of the rising danger with the precious irreplaceable explosive tag Naruto had given her as a last resort.

Until Sienna Khan broke the tension with a derisive bark of laughter.

"I can see how one might think that." She uncrossed her legs and leaned forward, as if to whisper in his ear from across the room. "But you see, the thing is that in my eyes, you are the most likely suspect."

The White Fang leader knew she hit a nerve when Naruto's hands betrayed his otherwise unmoving sever expression. That poisonous train of thought was indeed the one he was trying to defer for as long as possible. Of course, it was ludicrous for anyone thinking rationally, and Sienna Khan surely knew this. But at the same time, she also must know the mind of her people and the irrational state it was in right now. It was a threat, more than an actual opinion.

"All I see, all anyone is going to see is a pretender and a traitor." She casually plucked Blake's strings now, and her father surreptitiously moved to place a mute hand on her shoulder. "So, what can you tell me to make me change my mind?"

"Quit wasting time!"

Rather than stoop to entertain the woman's blackmail, Naruto chose to raise the stakes yet again. With his current skill and the unknown contents of the base, he wasn't sure they could fight their way out and survive. But the point was to make them believe he could, and this is where rumors played to his advantage.

The gamble seemed to pay off when everyone in the room, Blake and Ghira included, automatically backed up half a step. Even Khan, the woman who wore her stripes like badges of honor, looked decidedly uncomfortable in her own skin for all of two seconds.

"You want us to bow and scrape to you in order to maintain your precious image." Naruto began again in a calmer voice when he realized no one was about to attack him. "We're trying to help **your** people, and you're not even meeting us halfway. But you know what? That's fine."

Then Naruto did something that really surprised the room which was waiting on baited breath for the young man to do something drastic. He lowered himself to his knees and kissed the stone floor with his forehead as Blake and her father forcibly held in their shock. If Khan was enjoying this victory, she didn't show it as she waited anxiously for some kind of trick to be revealed. But when he straightened out again, and nothing exploded, she leaned back in her throne and appraised him with a straight face.

"Now, can we please talk about how we are going to help one another to solve this?"

"You're really willing to do whatever it takes for the good of someone else." It wasn't a question, and was stated with just the barest hints of wonder and disbelief.

"I've come this far. I don't quit, and I don't back down. It's more than my belief, that's my code." He could feel that other part of him, still trapped with Ruby, give him a whisper of approval.

"Very well," The leader heaved a dramatic sigh and stood up carefully from her throne to the shock of her body guards and even the Belladonnas. "If we are going to talk seriously About anything than I suggest we-"

Still on his knees, Naruto spun around when the massive walnut doors at the faraway end of the room suddenly burst open and a panicked White Fang grunt came tumbling in.

"Mistress!" The man cried out when the two door guards came to his aid, propping him up with an arm hooked under shoulder. "We're under attack! Huntsmen and Huntresses outside the southern entrance!"

Naruto returned to his feet, and faced back towards the unreadable Khan whose wide amber eyes were cloudy with the impending storm. Her eyebrows snapped down and her eyes had turned to lighting.

"Willing to do whatever it takes, huh?"

Naruto listened to the icy tone as the guards approached the three of them tentatively.

"Well…fuck."

…

"Swear!"

Ruby let loose the verbal tick like a war cry, plowing through a half-dozen of the unknown Grimm who had coagulated from the darkness to surround her and her team.

"God damn it Ruby!" Her sister swore in desperate exasperation as one of the bipedal Grimm hooked _Ember Celica_ with its sword-like claws behind her. "If there was an appropriate time to swear, this would be it!" To emphasize her point, she yanked the Grimm head over heels on her shoulder, stomped down on its gaping maw and proceeded to unload with both bullets and curses which were muffled by the explosions.

"Sorry!" The younger woman shouted back as she stuck _Crescent Rose_ into a Grimm's stomach, manhandling it out in front of her like a shield whereupon she took aim at the charging horde using her impromptu bipod.

Shots rang out far past the small clearing they were trapped in. Cracks echoed in return in an uneven pattern which didn't match the volley they had fired. There was someone else fighting for their lives somewhere in that same, narrow valley which was one of the few ways to approach the White Fang hideout. But none of the three could spare any thought to the poor souls whilst they had their own problems to deal with.

"This is definitely **not** going according to plan." Weiss growled as she froze the feet of four Grimm which had holed her up in a tree. She leapt gracefully from the branches just as she shot a single lightning-dust round in the center of the trunk.

The tree exploded like an anti-personnel mine, cutting down the surrounding Grimm with waves of fiery splinters.

"Quit whining and just fight!"

Yang shouted above the chaos, spinning around to blast another Grimm which was sprinting at her with surprising speed. To her abject shock, the Grimm ducked under her fire and body-slammed her with the entirety of its 3-meter-tall skeletal mass. She hit the ground without breath, slamming the back of her head against the ground and seeing stars in place of the hungry red eyes glaring down at her.

"No you don't! You no good, stinking, licorice-colored piece of poop!" Ruby cried out above Yang as she batted the Grimm away with the back of her scythe.

She looped around to whack a large shard of the tree Weiss had blown up, roughly the size and shape of skin-board. The discus flew true, carving through the emaciated spine of the Grimm and knocking it over where it quickly dissipated into a black cloud which shrouded three more pairs of glowing eyes emerging from the woods.

"Keep trying, sis." Yang guffawed as Ruby gave her a hand up.

"If this keeps up, you'll certainly get enough practice at it." Weiss joined the two, pinning the three newest arrivals to the ground with a glyph while Ruby and Yang both executed them with pinpoint fire.

"Where are they all coming from, though? This can't be natural."

"It could have something to do with the fighting going on over there." Yang cast a look off into up the gentle incline of the valley where sounds of battle mirroring their own waged a personal war in the darkness.

"More likely they're just dealing with fallout of whatever happened in there." Weiss said, gesturing to the overgrown temple complex which housed the White Fang's leadership. "Naruto, Blake and her father are likely in it up to their necks already. We don't have time to worry about whoever that may be."

It was a callous decision, but a logical one that Ruby knew she had to accept. Whoever else was out there was holding their own for now, and if they were smart they would also make their way to the White Fang base as the few torches burning were like lighthouses in the total blackness of the valley.

"Right then, let's go see if we can't fix Whisker's mess."

….

"Listen, we have nothing to do with this."

Sienna Khan didn't even bother humoring this belated plea, instead occupying herself with the immediate threat knocking at the back door.

"Not another word out of you!"

"I said: don't fucking touch her!"

Naruto batted away the naginata with his bare hand from where it prodded menacingly at Blake, himself doing an admirable job showing restraint, when all he wanted to do was deck these White Fang pawns.

Blake meanwhile was splitting her attention from Sienna Khan who had just then rediscovered their presence, and her father who was trying to look as unconfrontational as possible while also being held at blade-point.

"You!" She spat the word disgustedly at them, as if there were no word treacherous to describe them. "I knew I never should have trusted you two. And Belladonna, how could you be so petty as to betray your own organization? You lead this pretender into our midst and even have the gall to support your daughter's betrayal."

The man's denials fell on deaf ears while Naruto continually strained to hold himself back from tearing the pompous woman a new one. None of the insults thrown his way held any weight, but the stones thrown at Blake were an affront to every sensibility.

"We're telling you, _**if**_ you're being attacked, we've got nothing to do with it." He reiterated through grinding teeth. "Yes, we asked our teammates to wait for us outside the perimeter if anything went wrong, but we told them specifically not to interfere unless absolutely necessary."

"Lies!" Khan shouted as she descended the stairs, clearly on the war path. "Everything about you is a lie, Uzumaki. Everything that is said about you is nothing but obfuscation and treachery. I have people who will testify that you were born a human, and yet you stand here today and ask me to trust you? Why should I trust you on anything if I can't even tell what you are?" With each deliberate step she took down the steps, Naruto's ire grew. "I'll tell you what: let my guards rip out your ears to see if they're real. If they are, **then** I'll listen."

There was no right answer for this, but he sure as hell wasn't going to let the woman play Mr. Potato Head with his body. It wasn't something he thought often, but he was almost ready to write this person off as a lost cause.

"Well? How about it Mr. 'I would do anything to complete my mission'?"

"Naruto doesn't have to stoop to the likes of you." As Naruto made ready to defend himself against the encroaching foot soldiers, Blake stepped up to the plate. Clearly tired of being stepped over and sidelined. "And neither do I. You're not a savior or a hero. You're nothing but a bully who uses violence to get what she wants."

"And what would you know, little girl?" Khan sneered even as she gave orders aside to soldier coming in and out of secret entrances. "You couldn't even make it in my White Fang because you were afraid to fight back. Are you saying that you were wrong before?" She smirked at the end of the apparent conundrum.

"I was never afraid." Blake narrowed her eyes and Naruto braced himself as he saw her tense. "And yeah, I did make a mistake. I should have kicked your ass back then!"

Throughout the room, people exploded into motion like a pool table run amuck. Blake knocked away the first two guards like pinballs in her myopic charge straight for Khan. Naruto cursed as he momentarily hung back to take care of her father.

Even unarmed, none of the guards were a match for Blake as she tore through them with hands and feet, nails and teeth ripping and tearing at their masked faces. She hopped from one attacker to another, using face and bodies like springboards, using the floor like her private gymnastics mat on which she leapt and tumbled over and under the flabbergasted guards.

Naruto was quick to take care of the soldiers surrounding Ghira, wrenching one of their polearms away and proceeding to use it to smack down the rest in record time. When it appeared that more were in the process of filtering in through the main entrance, he quickly threw himself over there, temporarily lightening himself for the long leap, before going the opposite direction with his Semblence and turning his body into a dense fluid which smacked the doors like a wrecking ball made of gum.

He picked himself up and heaved a sigh before wedging the staff weapon in between the handles, temporarily sealing off both the entrance and their exit to the room. It took more out of him to increase his density than to go the other way, and so he stopped to catch his breath while turning towards the front where Blake was still going at it like a woman possessed.

Life was never kind enough to let one be ready for something, and so before Naruto could fully recover, more White Fang flooded out in streams from a secret doorway behind the throne. These ones were more well-armed and armored, and the instant they entered the room had their sights on Blake.

Without bother to shout a warning at the distracted woman, he toed another two halberds into either arm and chucked them into the newly arrived gang with javelin-like precision.

The first tore into the gap between pauldron and cuirass, sending the man spinning to the floor. The second caught another full on in the mouth where there was no armor at all to blunt the blow. As this one crumpled to the floor drowning in his own blood, the rest of the soldiers turned to regard the new threat.

Naruto smirked as he drew the fire of half the White Fang grunts, quickly tossing down a smoke bomb and disappearing into the accompanying haze.

Meanwhile, Blake was beginning to see the effects of not having an available weapon. Her battle fatigue was exacerbated as she smashed her unarmored fists and feet into unyielding bodies. But her goal was in sight, and Sienna Khan was waiting for her behind her loyal dogs with a disapproving look marring her beautiful face.

She would still tear the woman apart with her bare hands if necessary.

But before she could slam her throbbing fists into her next opponent, the man dropped his weapon as he began to choke on an innocuous cloud of vapor. Of course, Blake knew what was happening, and so was only mildly surprised when Naruto appeared out of thin air, foot halfway down the throat of the White Fang and instantly shattering the man's windpipe. He dropped semi-gracefully down next to her, still trying to dislodge his ankle from the man's mouth.

"Eew, never doing that again." He said, wrenching free his foot along with a few teeth.

"She's mine. Don't interfere."

Naruto turned serious on the spot, making her instantly want to recant her statement. But to her surprise, he didn't try to dissuade her from taking on Sienna Khan, only making sure to humble her with that judgmental look and ordering her to be careful.

"Oh, and this might help."

From the same hiding spot in which Blake stashed their one explosive tag, Naruto pulled out another shred of calligraphy paper which held two storage seals on it and a third unknown which contained something like a battery. It held minute portions of Sasuke's chakra in order to activate the other two seals. The precious resource which was the only amount left in Remnant. He ran a bloodied finger over the kanji and two small poofs later, they both held their familiar weapons in their hands once again.

"Thanks Naruto." The boy just shook his head as he turned his back on her and faced his group of White Fang who only now realized he had given them the slip.

"Thank Sasuke for figuring that one out."

"I will, next time we see him."

Without a word Naruto disappeared again and Blake turned back to the increasingly nervous linesmen.

"Now then, where were we?"

…..

Somehow the words whispered right over his shoulder didn't startle Sasuke as much as they probably should have. He had assumed this was too easy, and was almost glad to be proven right.

But then again, being wrong might not have been so bad either, especially when he was barely able to dodge the null blade by rolling himself and the massive railgun out of the way in the nick of time.

Still, the strike was tauntingly slow, and even as he rolled onto his feet, he had to put the very expensive experimental weapon in between himself and a follow-up which bisected the rifle in two. He leapt back, kicking the useless aft section at Salem and quickly detaching two of the three accelerating rails which formed the barrel, the parts specifically designed for this purpose.

She knocked the rifle stock away with a careless flick, doing the same for the rest of the receiver and scope which Sasuke then lobbed at her after palming the two useful sections.

"I must say, it is quite a surprise to see you alive." She said casually, as if he hadn't just blown a baseball-sized hole in her chest.

He was surprised to see that he actually _had_ hit her with the first shot, a fist-sized gap between her breasts slowly stitching itself up with black thread.

He watched her approach unaffected by her wound, his eyes scanning her with a cold precision, trying to deduce what was going on.

"Of course, it would be a bigger surprise if I didn't already know." He narrowed his eyes as she laughed, a cloying sound. "Really though, you do interest me, Sasuke. Not many would have the commitment to sacrifice their bodies for the sake of a goal."

"Compared to other things that I have given up, I do not consider it a high price to pay." He had a functioning body, what he didn't have was a family, a brother, a sense of closure.

"That's an awfully mature point of view for such a young man. What was life like for you to make you this way, I wonder?"

Sasuke was through with her frivolities. This may have been the first time he met the professed goddess face-to-face, but he knew her kind. She was exactly the same as Cinder, exactly the same as so many others before her who were so wrapped up in their conceited beliefs that they would talk the same as kill because they held life at so low a cost. He would not stoop to her valuation of his worth.

He choked up on the connecting shaft of the accelerator rails in his hands, the functional piece an ideal handle for the two fin-shaped electromagnets, now balanced like broadswords in his hands. He gave the two modular pieces an experimental swing.

"So, that's how it's going to b-"

Sasuke didn't want to let her spout any more of her dribble, attacking her with his robotic body's incredible power to mass ratio. He could measure how fast he was running in the split second it took to reach her, and though he could only guess he estimated it to be faster than he was even before.

Still, the dark goddess blocked his swing with the same careless ease she had the pieces of the rifle. She didn't seem to be struggling either against his strength which he knew could shatter solid granite. Her black-hole of a blade glared down on him even as he swung the other sharpened rail at her, she not moving an inch as he was intercepted by an equally black tendril shooting up from the earth.

"So eager. Oh well, you will learn patience when you are older. Well, if you survive that is…"

"Quit talking, would you?"

With the tip of the rail he held in his hand pointed to the ground, he flicked a switch on the connecting-rod handle. Although slower than the assembled weapon, the singular rail still shot out its miniature projectile with startling speeds. The only warning a split-second glow emanating from the vents before the ground beneath the two of them exploded.

Sasuke pirouetted back in the air, both weapons tucked in close to his body like a ballerina on a wire. He landed firmly and immediately began unloading the two blades downrange at the growing cloud.

Rather than wait and survey the damage like a fool, he darted headfirst into the billowing dust, eyes already attuned to thermal signature.

It wasn't hard to find her. But even as he made sure to approach her both swiftly and silently in the obscuring screen, she somehow sensed his presence and sent more of those living shadows after him. He used the rails like swords to slice at them as they jabbed back. But even though the edges of the rails were as sharp as any blade, they didn't seem to have much of an effect on the null ether.

Snapping at him like a viper, he pointed the tip of the rail at it and sent another micro-dust round towards it at hypersonic velocities. The slug passed cleanly through it, but what was of special note was that when the fire dust exploded and begun to burn, the snaking black mass recoiled from the flickering light it provided.

Sasuke smirked, having so quickly found a counter. But he didn't allow himself to get complacent and had to quickly deal with the other one which came at him from behind. It was soon joined by several others as Salem was apparently having fun toying with him, keeping at him a distance for the time being.

The obvious thing was to do what she didn't want him to. So he ignored the black tentacles trying to impale him and went directly for their source. He fired another few salvos at her obvious heat signature, knowing it wouldn't do much direct effect, but seeking to illuminate the battlefield. To this end, he purposefully sent a few rounds astray into the forest, intending to spark a conflagration which would light up the night.

"So much wanton destruction…" the voice came from all around him after he lost her in the spreading heat wave. "You aren't like the other. You would have made a fine addition to my group."

Sasuke scoffed, closing his eyes and relying on his other senses. If she thought she was going to beat him psychologically, she was sorely mistaken. He had dealt with this exact scenario before. If only she did know what he had been through, she might know how futile it was.

When he suddenly blocked her blade without looking, he saw the first signs of shock on the witch's face. It quickly disappeared as they reengaged in a sword match and she began trying his impressive but limited strength with an intense power she seemed to draw on from nowhere.

Again, this was not an issue for Sasuke. He knew there were stronger people out there, and that there always would be. His advantage lay in the speed of his body, as well as his own shrewdness bolstered by an electronic combat algorithm.

It also soon became clear that Salem, while powerful, was not a skilled fighter by any stretch, and Sasuke held the position of superior swordsman. She soon grew weary with being overwhelmed by his technique, and like a spoiled child upturned the board on him.

Sasuke backpedaled in time to avoid a wave of the black substance crash down on the spot he had been. He grumbled, realizing he wasn't getting anywhere with her pulling that trick on him whenever she felt like it. He would just have to meet her with a trick of his own.

In the flickering light of the quickly spreading forest fire, he spotted the remains of his weapon, the last fin still attached to the receiver block. He concentrated on the rail for a few seconds, not having attempted this feature before now. Unlike Penny, he had to have a direct line of sight, which was one of many reasons the cheery girl could be considered an 'upgrade'. But he would make do.

He knew he had it when the fin broke free from both the remains of the rifle and the ground by his command. Turning his attention back to Salem, he began blowing holes aimlessly in her wall which stood like a curtain hiding the main act.

Concentrating on one spot, he blasted a hole large enough for him to throw himself through. His precision body swam through the hole with impossible grace, rolling to a sturdy knee on the other side with both rail-swords raised in readiness.

But Salem was no where to be found. He scanned the unburnt section of forest with all spectrums of light in his view. Nothing.

Thinking back to his bell test, so long ago, he touched a finger to the ground as he realized he would be able to sense her seismic waves. But she wasn't there either, or if she was, he couldn't pick her out with his limited practice.

She couldn't fly as far as he knew, so that left…

He threw one of the rails behind him along his spine as Salem's blade emerged from the shadowy wall along with the rest of her, a cruel smirk on her face as her blade nicked his side, severing both cloth and the synthetic material he had for skin.

"So, that's your secret." She laughed, making no effort to hide the cruelty. "I should have known you wouldn't sacrifice someone else for your sake. It is one of humanity's many, many weaknesses. Why would you willingly doom yourself to a limited body?"

"The answer is there." Sasuke ground out from his compromising position, Salem's blade digging further and further into his mechanics. "You just have to look underneath the underneath."

"What sort of foolish-"

Salem didn't get a chance to deride his Sensei's words as the third rail flew back into their clearing, digging itself into her back. She stumbled, and her blade left Sasuke's side as he quickly threw himself away to safety.

"How-"

"Die."

His fingers ironically sprouted in a handseal which wasn't necessary as the impaling rail fired with his remote control.

Salem's chest burst outwards, sending sprays of gore and chunks of flesh flying high and far in every direction. Her body toppled forward in a heap even before the last bits of her eviscerated body fell back down.

Sasuke stood up, watching the still body for a few skeptical seconds before he looked at his own blood-covered form with lips twisted in disgust.

"Tch." Well, at least he would be able to clean himself now, he supposed.

But even as he contemplated how a shower might feel in his new form, wondering if he even should, considering the large gash in his side breaking the waterproof seal, he became aware of an irrational feeling of dread. That was the human part of himself smacking his logical electronic brain with the baseball bat of instinct.

He sighed, diffusing the alarm bells in his head and checking his current ammunition and fuel levels. He scowled as the reanimated corpse began picking itself off the ground. He had less than 10% battery life remaining, and less than 50 round total for his rail-blades. He had used more than 50% of each in the last five minutes.

"I should have known it wouldn't be that easy…"


	20. Let's Get Radical

**So yeah... another example of why it's better for me to do these notes at the beginning of the day rather than the end.**

 **Correction: The Acronym corresponding to the YAL is in this chapter. Duh.**

 **But on more pertinent note, before I forget and seeing as this is going to be the last time (for this story at least), I just want to give a HUGE thanks to all those who have supported me along the way with both personal messages and reviews. You guys know who you are, and you are awesome.**

 **So with this chapter and the epilogue, the story will be "officially" complete. I am still not 100% satisfied with either one, but at the moment I can't seem to breach that glass ceiling so I won't prolong the pain any more. There is quite a bit I'd like to redo for this whole series, if I could, and if I had the energy. But for now, I am satisfied, and I hope y'all will be as well.**

 **I will be available as best I can for anyone wanting to contact me for clarification on anything, hate letters, etc. Just know that I am starting back up with school tomorrow at the crack of dawn, and will busy throughout the week and into the weekend (in fact, starting Friday I will be AWOL so don't worry if I don't answer then, I'll get to you).**

 **This being said, it also means that any future writing I had planned might be delayed. Might, because I still have a wellspring of ideas that hopefully won't be entirely crushed by the drudgery of classwork. These will probably manifest in a bunch of random one-shots, just to send up a strawman and probe popular opinion, see which ones are worth turning into a full story. I'm just not going to leap into another monstrosity like this one anytime soon (I think, there is always that part of me which likes to contradict itself).**

 **Anyway, once again, thanks to everyone, and especially those who got actively engaged. But yeah, even you silent slackers can give yourselves a pat on the back as well. Hope to catch your shadows darkening my doorstep sometime in the future.**

 **~Mata, ne?**

* * *

"You must know that there's no escaping."

Blake glared at her father's counterpart, the current leader of the White Fang and one of the few people she could honestly say she detested as much as the Schnees (bar Weiss, who had somehow become tolerable over the months they had spent together).

"Even if by some miracle you manage to defeat me, there are more than 500 trained and loyal soldiers in this castle ready to give their lives to avenge their leader."

"We'll see how loyal they are when I show them your head."

"Such harsh words for a pacifist…"

"I never pretended to be a pacifist, but I always preferred a peaceable solution rather than resorting to violence."

The two women circled one another like the cats they drew from, eyes as sharp as either of their blades. Blake twirled _Gambol Shroud_ as she allowed the woman her pre-fight chatter, using the time to recover some of her energy from plowing through so many White Fang rank-and-file.

"Where is your peaceful solution now? You attack us in our own home under the guise of friendship." She hissed the words, looking genuinely offended and maybe the tiniest bit hurt, probably from thinking Blake's father had betrayed them.

"I told you, whatever is happening isn't our fault." Blake took a deep breath, knowing that no matter how painful it was, she had to make one last effort at reconciliation. "End this. You can tell your soldiers to stop, and we can both go see what's going on for ourselves. Maybe afterwards we can talk about what we really came here for in the first place."

"I **am** going to end this." Sienna Khan growled menacingly. "By severing all ties from our past mistakes. Starting with you, and then moving on to your weakling of a father."

"He's stronger than you'll ever be." She whispered the words, but knew her adversary heard them despite lunging at her halfway through.

The two woman clashed blades, Sienna proving that she wasn't elected head of the White Fang for show. Her shamshir flashed like gnashing teeth, the wicked curve trying to pick its way past Blake's defense.

But Blake had also been getting plenty of practice as of late, many more hours fighting other people than most huntresses normally saw in a lifetime. The only ones who could come close in comparison were people like Khan who used their skills to terrorize and murder. Blake would prove that there was a vast difference between those types of people and her.

She broke the initial stalemate through sheer unrelenting brutality, hammering on Sienna's defense with both _Gambol Shroud_ and its sheath in active play. The older woman growled weathering the blows as her arms dipped lower and lower. She was not yet ready to have this kitten usurp her.

Coming together with swords crossed, she used this moment of stagnation to draw on her semblance in the hope to finish the fight quickly. Baring her fangs at her fellow feline, to Blake's disgust she began hacking like she was about to pass a hairball. But before she could disengage, a stream of sand flew out of Sienna's mouth and blew Blake off her feet.

She cried in pain and surprise, rubbing her eyes to try and dislodge the invasive particles. She didn't even have to look to know her Aura had taken a massive hit. Though if she hadn't had it active, she had no doubt the fine grains would have done far more damage to her bare skin.

"Like it? I call it 'Scour'. I grew up in the desert of Menagerie, back when it was a lot smaller. But it was no less fierce, and what wasn't covered in sand was worn away by the fierce winds. I used to dread it when the evenings would kick up a haboob, and the air would become so thick with sand that I couldn't see my hand in front of my face.

"But if it weren't for that prevalent threat of nature, I probably wouldn't have activated my semblance so early. And you know what? I find it perfect for me, both for function as well as poetic irony." She walked casually up to Blake whose eyes were red and squinted but was still pushing herself off the ground to continue the fight. "I would spit the desert back in the face of those who pushed us there. I would wear away at their resolve by showing them the harshness of a world without life."

"Sounds like someone just has too much sand in her pussy…" Blake snarked as she squinted at the livid Sienna Khan.

"Such a mouth for someone who always runs away." She snarled. "But someday you're going to have to stay and face the consequences of your words."

"Fine by me."

Sienna drew in another deep breath to expunge the sand particles growing in her esophagus as Blake prepared to substitute herself with a clone.

But as she blinked away the last holdouts of sand grains in her eyes, another figure apparated right in front of Khan, too close for her to do anything about it.

Khan doubled over as the figure slammed an elbow in her gut, shattering the miniscule amount of passive Aura she wasn't using for her Semblance. She fell like a ragdoll on the ground, shamshir falling next to her as she gasped for breath through the sand filling up her lungs.

The blond stared down in a broken apathy at the choking woman before steeling himself and turning back to Blake.

"Naruto? What… why the hell did you do that?!" Blake burst out in a fit of rage. Naruto took her venomous ire with a passivity, letting her vent her frustrations.

"Blake," He intoned.

"What?!" She half-yelled at him, cheeks still red from the diatribe she hurled his way.

"We don't have time for this."

His words, so cold and stern were a slap in the face. One that she needed as she picked herself up the moment after, drawing in a calming breath and sheathing _Gambol Shroud_.

"You're right. We have to see if Ruby and the others are alright out there." She looked past his legs to see Khan who was turning blue in the face and grasping at the carpeted floor. "What should we do about her?"

Naruto shrugged. There wasn't much point taking her with them. She would be safe enough here with the rest of her contingent of White Fang. And plus, she would slow them down.

Still, in her present condition she wouldn't last another minute, already her eyes were rolling back up in her head.

Blake sauntered up to her fellow feline Faunus, pausing to look down as one might look at piece of gum on the ground. Her foot lashed out swiftly and sharply, nailing Sienna in the stomach. The downed woman doubled around the limb, spitting out a glob of sand with a whet hack, the whoosh of sweet air entering her lungs moments later.

"Good enough." Naruto shrugged again, turning back around to survey potential exits. "Now, we still have to get out of here somehow, preferably without having to battle an army."

"You have a plan?" Blake noted the telltale spark behind his shimmering azure eyes which was a dead giveaway.

"Maybe." He gave her a small smirk. "Mind if I borrow your semblance? I may have a way to give us an army."

Catching on quick enough, Blake gave her own smirk as she left a still gasping Sienna Khan behind her.

"I'll get my father, let him know what we've got planned and make sure he knows to stay a safe distance behind in case it goes as smoothly as the rest of this day has."

"Sounds good." Naruto nodded as he rubbed his chin, hashing out more of the details in his head.

"Oh, and Naruto?" She called, pausing as she passed him.

"Hm?"

Blake twirled around on her heel faster than Naruto could react to, not having expected this sudden movement from her direction. She grabbed him by the collar of his black jacket, lifting him the short distance to her eye level and glared at him with stormy yellow eyes.

"Don't. Ever. Interrupt. Me. Again." Naruto nodded with wide eyes unwillingly soaking in every detail of this terrifying visage.

"Good." She dropped him the few centimeters to the ground and patted him on his head between his fox ears standing at alert attention.

"Now, let's get the hell out of here."

…..

"How the hell are we going to get in there?"

Weiss questioned as the three of them regarded the ancient castle the White Fang had annexed for their base. The walls were vertical, made of solid stone meshed so tight to be without handholds. The front door wasn't a door at all, but a wrought iron portcullis with oaken slats bolstered up behind it.

"Well, the lights are on. I wonder if anyone's home?" Yang shielded her eyes with a hand as she craned her neck looking up at the faint glow from the battlements.

"What do you suggest we do? Knock?"

"Sure." Yang smiled deviously as she smashed a fist into her palm. "We knock **hard**."

"Okay, assuming you **can** even knock that gate down, that's a bad idea. You know that this is the White Fang's main headquarters, right? There's got to be like, a few hundred people in there all ready to kill first and ask questions later."

"Yeah, and they also probably got Blake and Her dad as well as Naruto. So what do you suggest we do?"

Ruby nibbled her bottom lip in thought. Both her teammates had legitimate points if one looked past the bickering exterior. It was true that this was an incredibly fortified position, and they were not at their best having battled droves of spontaneously appearing Grimm to get here.

On the other hand, their friends were currently trapped in there, and they had no idea what was going on with them since the base retracted in on itself earlier when the Grimm began to attack. They couldn't afford to dally if something was wrong. But there was no way of knowing if they were in trouble in the first place, and if so, where in the dauting complex they were being held.

But then Ruby got a crazy idea.

Ignoring the bickering of her teammates which effectively drew their attention away from her, Ruby steadied her breath, reversing the process of what she had been doing for the past few weeks, trying instead to draw **out** the Kyuubi's energy.

Outside her concentration, the torchlight flickered, and the forest seemed to still as even the crickets listened in rapt attention.

 _So, the jailer seeks me out at last. I must say, you've made some impressive progress lately. Is that why you are drawing on my power?_

' _Not quite.'_ Ruby tried hard not to let her words be voiced out loud, and to direct them to that remote place in her body which housed the Fox. _'I need to find Naruto. Can you tell me where he is in there, and if he's okay?'_

The Kyuubi scoffed and grew silent. Ruby thought he might be ignoring her request because of her impertinence. He might not even be able to help her after all, since he only ever seemed to react to Naruto when he was right next to her. Just as she was about to relent, she felt the Kyuubi's eyes snap open.

 _Get ready._

' _Huh?'_

 _He's coming._

Ruby grew giddy at this instant confirmation and opened her eyes to gaze upon the still unchanged exterior. Thinking better of it, she shot one last message back to the Fox.

' _Thank you!'_ The Kyuubi scoffed, and she could feel him curl back up in the darkness. But she could also tell he was restive, and would not be closing his eyes anytime soon.

 _Don't thank me yet, Little Rose._

She heard the warning, but not knowing what to make of it, filed it away for later as she leapt to tell her friends the good news.

"Hey, guys!" They both turned at her sound of exuberance. "I just talked to the fuzzy, he said that Naruto and Blake are-"

The once immutable gates exploded outwards in unprecedented fury, the metal fence being sent hurling far off into the woods as Ruby, Weiss and Yang threw themselves to the ground.

"What. The. Hell?" Yang pronounced as she hazarded poking her head up, seeing who was responsible for getting so dangerously close to messing up her hair.

Three figures strode out of the lingering smoke, one significantly larger than the others dwarfing them bringing up the rear. Even before the ash had settled, Ruby had already hopped to her feet and shot forward towards the leisurely paced group making their egress.

"Hey there." Naruto greeted the girl who halted just in front of the three, his hand rubbing the back of his head and a smile which he was trying to make look embarrassed, but was in reality too enthused with the sheer obliteration.

"Hey. Glad to have you back."

"Can we do sappy reunions later? I don't think its exactly safe right here." Yang glowered at both Naruto and Blake for making them worry so much.

"I think the White Fang is dealing with their own problems right now." Naruto replied back with a chuckle that made his ribs hurt recalling just how much he had strained himself for that task.

"You know what? I'm not even going to ask." Weiss said, getting in on the levity. "But Yang's right. There's something going on out here bigger than the White Fang, and whatever it is seems to be getting closer." She pointed off up the valley to the wildfire now consuming a goodly portion of the virgin forest, but also effectively cutting off their main means of retreat.

"Well, that's going to be a problem." Blake's father understated, looking grimly at the blocked pass. "The only other way is to head to the shore, and from there we'd have to swim because the last storm eroded the beach back to the cliff face."

"We could still go through the valley." Naruto argued, reengaged with the mission now that the moment of respite had passed. "Weiss could use either her glyphs to get us over, or we could use ice, water or even earth dust to clear us a path."

"Whatever we do, we should do it fast." Ruby reminded everyone. "We encountered some strange Grimm hanging around out here. They weren't exactly dumb, so that fire will drive them towards us if we stop and hang around."

"Not to mention the more time we spend chattering the more time the White Fang have to get back on their feet." Blake added, taking a nervous glance back into the castle which seemed even then to groan with groggy indignation.

"Right then. Team RWBY- erm, RWBNY- wait, let me think about this…"

"Let's just get the hell out of here."

"Right."

…

9% and dropping. He wasn't losing energy as fast because he was sticking mainly to hand-to-hand and not using the electricity-powered sub-rail guns. But any surplus he would possess would be worthless if he didn't manage to live through this, so he couldn't afford to hold back.

And speaking of surplus, limbs, normally grievous bodily injuries he could shrug off like cat-scratches. And flexibility like he'd never imagined himself capable of, that was child's play. Seeing moves in advance had long since surpassed his limitations with the Sharingan within this battle alone as his combat computer gained more and more experience, and learned how he himself fought.

Of course, none of that mattered if his enemy refused to go down.

"You're beginning to irritate me." Salem's torso said as it pushed itself off the ground, using a spare hand to drag her lower half back towards her.

"That's supposed to be my line." Sasuke said with a smirk that was all bravado.

He'd resorted to using badmouthing, talking filler, anything to drag the fight out and give him time to think of what to do.

The YARG (Experimental Anti-Material Rail Gun, also known as Gary by that one extremely annoying person) was designed specifically with Salem in mind. The scope had everything that his eyes didn't and could even see through walls if necessary. The main projectile it fired was roughly the size of a saltshaker and was made out of gravity dust which had been stripped of its energy to be as dense and light as possible, and when it left the barrel it was going roughly mach 30. The principal was simple: stay as far away as possible from the woman, and blow her to bits even if she was behind several walls of solid concrete.

It was the beginning and end to his plan. There wasn't a plan B. Failure was not an option.

What did shinobi do when faced with impossible odds? Run away. That was always an option, but there was no way he'd be able to return to Atlas in time to get a refill from a fuel that no longer existed. What else? He could take an option from Naruto's handbook. When all the logical solutions failed, illogical was the way to go.

He pulled out a couple of grenades from the munitions he had stocked up on before leaving the military base. Sometimes simple was the best.

Salem had already reformed by the time he had a game-plan in mind. She sent the black tendrils crashing at him from above and below, intent on smashing as one does an especially annoying bug. Fitting.

He found out a while back that the null energy she projected was enough for him to stand on. It behaved in many ways like Grimm did, often appearing to act independent of the woman and disappearing into black smoke when severed from her root.

So he skated along the highway kindly provided for him, running the monochrome rainbow over to where Salem was still looking back and forth trying to figure out where he'd gone. He passed the apex of the arch, and threw himself down at her.

"Got you." She suddenly snapped up with a wicked smirk. He braced his rail-swords in front of his face to deflect the impending attack from her.

What he should have expected, but didn't, was that she would also be taking notes during the battle, and might use his own tactics against him.

A Nevermore which had been perched just outside of his notice dive-bombed on him in mid-air, snapping him up like an eagle does a trout. He cried out in dramatic anguish and very real pain as the overgrown buzzard whipped him back and forth in its beak and snapped its jaws shut trying to tear him in two.

Despite the unwanted roller-coaster ride, he hung on to his weapons, jabbing them into the beady red eyes. The avian Grimm cried out in a mockery of his own pain as he twisted the blade deeper in- as far as his arm would reach.

The bird dropped him, and he immediately ceased paying attention to it as once on the ground he was confronted with a new threat: a score of humanoid Grimm which encircled him with blank expressions on their all-two human faces.

Of course, apart from the macabre faces which looked more like a black and white interpretation of Edvard Munch's 'The Scream', calling them humanoid was a generosity. There bodies were rotting skeletons the height of a streetlight, hunched over and uniquely crooked. They smelled like corpses too, and their beady eyes watching him with childlike curiosity betrayed by their waggling fingers as long and as sharp as scimitars.

All in all, Orochimaru would be proud.

They weren't dumb, either, he soon realized as they charged him in groups of two or three at most. Fully cognizant of their large size and his squirrely disposition. They also knew he was a threat, and the others sat back and watched as he fought with disturbing clarity behind their emotionless masks. But despite that, they kept coming, compelled as it were by some unknown drive different than their immature brethren.

But they still died like them.

He flicked the non-existent blood off his weapon as he stared at a constipated-looking Salem. He met her narrowed gaze, showing her he was no amateur, even in this new body. With the forest fire busily encroaching behind him, the artificial obsidian-colored eyes made specifically for him by hand in a mom-and-pop shop outside of Atlas, flickered menacingly along with it.

"Quit playing games." He challenged.

"That's supposed to be my line." Salem said with a sinister smile, raising her arms as if summoning the dead.

More Grimm answered her call, crawling out of the woodwork from gods-knew-where, attracted by the battle or compelled by yet another unknown factor.

Sasuke smirked off the return of his words, still feeling the grenades in his pocket. He offered no rebuttal as he met her Grimm head on- blasting away at them with abandon and his remaining ammunition. He used no more than one shot each, and often shot straight through multiple targets in his seamless performance in front of the waiting witch.

Then the chalkboard cries stopped, and Salem felt her self-assured smile drop as the black cloud of sublimating flesh cleared and no Sasuke was to be found.

"You can't win, you know." Salem called out to an empty forest who answered in a crackling rage. "You must have figured out by now that I am immortal. I've lived for a thousand years, and will live for a thousand more if it means victory." She let the partial-bluff echo alone in the crowded valley.

"In the shinobi world, there's no such thing as immortal." Sasuke's voice echoed out from nowhere, from everywhere.

Zabuza had used the technique on him, now it was time to pay that lesson in full.

"You aren't in your own world anymore." Salem answered back, swallowing a nervousness which threatened to betray that confidence.

"Maybe not…" The disembodied voice answered back. "But I brought my techniques with me: Forbidden Shinobi Technique! One-Thousand Years of Death!"

Sasuke darted at her from the shadows and she quickly raised her arms in defense. But the real attack came once again from the remotely controlled fin which had been abandoned earlier. Forgotten, that is, until Sasuke snatched it up under the cover provided by the Grimm horde and strapped his grenades to it.

For however long he lived, he would never forget the look on Salem's face as she was violated by the improvised weapon of mass destruction.

The image would likely be burned into his cameras too, because another thing he did neglect was that in addition to the high explosive grenade, there had also been a thermite munition mixed into his bag of tricks. The black and white woman was consumed in pale flames which burned at temperatures that could melt steel. The cries which came from the inferno could shatter glass.

Sasuke watched on with a detached horror, knowing that even if she survived this, he had struck an unforgiveable blow. Salem clawed at her dissolving face, her empty eye sockets filled with flames as black smoke filled the fire and boiled all the fluid in her body.

The retaliation he was expecting came in the one moment he let his guard down, the fraction of a second in which he felt pity for the monstrous woman who would feel the pain of death a hundred times before this was over, and feel the pain of loneliness for all eternity.

The screams were so loud that they actually overloaded his oratory sensors, a painfully high-pitched wine flooding his head before they cut out. In that moment, a massive skeletal arm broke free from the hellfire and grabbed Sasuke's arm, dragging him into the blaze.

Repeat checklist. Munitions: expendable. Weapons: expendable. Body parts: expendable.

Without having to think, he picked up his other blade with his left hand, severing the right one at the elbow and let the branch-like arm crawl back into the flame with its consolation prize.

He cursed his stupidity, quickly patching up the leaking fluids dripping down his leg.

" **You.** " The horse and demonic voice came from the fire along with two more massive arms. " **You did this.** " A third and a fourth. Fifth lagging behind. " **You dare mock me…** " Six, seven and eight burst out, smothering the fire which gave birth to a hulking and sagging mass of tarry cobweb muscles stretched over a limestone skeleton.

" **I will destroy you!** "

The arachnoidian construct stomped over to Sasuke with thundering steps as he tried to pry himself off the shaking ground with only one arm. He had just gotten his feet underneath him when the spider bearing a mutilated Salem hanging under its abdomen, pinned him down with one of its eight, boney legs. He could feel the sharp finger close around his torso.

The human-like parasite lowered down to face Sasuke, so close he could see the crimson aura dancing in the hollow lines surrounding her eyes.

" **I am going to erase you.** " The human angler once known as Salem promised him with a chorus of dissonant voices. " **Then I will track down anyone who every made contact with you and make them suffer. I will wipe every last trace of you off the face of the map.** "

"Go ahead." Sasuke scoffed back, ignoring the overwhelming pain and soul-crushing despair in order to rummage through every last trace memory he could to see if he might pull a miracle out of his ass.

"Go ahead and kill me. I may die and disappear..." He gathered up his remaining courage, plastering his own self-assured smile across his face. "But the humiliation you feel now is immortal too, and will stay with you the rest of your life."

Salem's rotting face stared back, slack-jawed as Sasuke then began to laugh uncontrollably. She lifted the spider-leg off the ground, taking Sasuke along with it so she could bring his broken and hysterical body closer.

" **You humans…** " His laughing died out as he began to resign himself. " **…are strange.** "

"Yeah." Sasuke gave one final huff before closing his eyes. "I suppose so."

"Damn right we are!"

Naruto's voice shouted at him in his mind. Screaming at him not to be acquiescent to his fate. But there was little he could do while being crushed by the arachnid's human-like arm.

An arm, which seconds later was severed from the wrist down and unwillingly dropped him.

Well, that was one problem solved.

As the hand released him, a silken ribbon took its place, jerking him far away from the spider-like monster bearing Salem who was screaming in unearthly fury.

"Got you." A comforting pair of arms struggled to bear his weight. "You've gotten heavy."

"Sorry." He apologized absently. "You can let me down."

"Are you sure you're okay?"

Sasuke glanced at his severed arm which was still bleeding some neon-blue lubricant on the ample bosom he was pressed against.

"It's just a scratch."

"A scratch? You're arm's off."

"Mm." A labored sigh as the arms gratefully and gently set him on his feet. "Just a 'flesh' wound."

"Men…"

Naruto looked at the surreal reunion with a jealous longing, wanting desperately to comfort, confront, and cajole his friend. But there was much more to do before they could celebrate the happy event, and he turned back to the transformed Salem with a stern resolution. Ruby popped back on his side, flicking her scythe to rid it of the viscous ether which made up the arachnid's body.

"How do you want to do this?" He asked his provisional leader.

"You mean we can't just wing it?" Ruby asked facetiously, wry smile showing she was being sarcastic.

"Somehow I don't think that's going to work." Naruto frowned as they both watched the limb she severed grow back with an audible squelch. The suspended body of Salem turned towards their group with an uncanny slowness.

"She's immortal." Sasuke's voice sidled up to the two of them, Blake, Yang and Weiss taking up positions not soon after. "Or at least, she seems to be."

"Seems?"

"It's been working so far."

Naruto glanced at his comrade's missing limb, hardly blinking at the obvious electronics poking out from the shredded skin.

"We'll talk about that later." "Mm." The confirmation came and then he turned back to the matter at hand. "Any ideas?"

"Impossible stuff is normally your forte."

"Flatterer."

Banter was cut off as the enormous spider leapt into the air with unaccustomed speed, descending on their gathering with the entirety of its mountainous mass. They all scattered in different directions, and were quickly forced to deal with the eight appendages moving independently trying to squash them.

"HA!"

Cries of battle bounced back and forth in the man-made clearing of uprooted trees. From an enraged Yang blasting away at the arm which was trying to grope her, and Grimm who were spontaneously popping out of the woodwork to harry her. To Weiss who was passionately dispatching the hordes of Grimm which rained down on them from zit-like structures on the carapace. To Blake who was restrained chaos, angrily slashing away at any and every limb trying to pin her down and lunging at the dilapidated form of Salem who skirted in and out of her range.

Naruto followed Sasuke as he leapt onto the monster's back, striking at it with anything and everything they had whilst also dealing with the airborne Grimm which had gathered and were circling on their strange festival.

None of it was working, and it was obvious.

"I tried the thing you used on Gaara." Sasuke mentioned casually, as if they weren't fighting for their lives. Naruto quirked an eyebrow, more intrigued by the statement than the nonchalance.

"You tried summoning?"

"The other thing."

Naruto looked confused as he absently plunged his hand deep into a Gryphon's side, yanking out what passed for a kidney, before he lit up and smiled in revelation.

"Wish I could have been there."

Ruby wasn't just fighting for her life. She was fighting for everyone's. She darted back and forth across the battlefield, abusing her Semblance and bleeding Aura like it was going out of style. But she could see they were losing the battle of attrition, and was merely trying to keep her friends and herself above water.

Grim resignation tugged on her spine, and an ethereal entity throbbed in her gut.

' _Not now.'_

She could feel the Kyuubi knocking against her erected barriers. She couldn't afford to relinquish control to the Fox, not when her friends were also in the line of fire, and especially not when surrounded by the creatures so attuned to negative thought. And from what Sasuke was insinuating, they could wail on Salem all day long and it wouldn't make a lick of difference.

"Thanks Rubes!"

Her sister gave her a thumbs-up as Ruby held off two of the spider's limbs with _Crescent Rose_ held high above her head. She hadn't even realized she'd moved, her body acting of its own accord, working on overdrive to be everywhere at once.

"Incoming!"

Black and blond slammed into the ground, breaking a felled tree in twain. Naruto lifted himself out of the split log with a groan.

"Hey Yang, can I borrow your Semblance for a little bit?"

"Sure thing, Foxy." Yang smiled, winking at Ruby as the girl twirled her scythe, chunking the two limbs with brutal efficiency. "Gonna borrow your boyfriend for a bit, K?"

Ruby didn't have opportunity to get mortified, and instead spun on her heel and blasted two Grimm over her sister's shoulder which had been sneaking up from behind. Yang chuckled nervously before moving to Naruto and placing her hands on his back.

"Hell yeah… that's the stuff!"

Naruto's eyes lit up like a stoplight, similarly burning in rage to how he would get with the Kyuubi. Ruby wondered if that's what she looked like, but immediately shelved that thought. She knew she was worse.

Naruto practically disappeared from the ground, appearing in front of Salem's body the next moment with a firestorm blazing on his fist. His punch caved in the woman's head and plowed deep into the body of the spider.

He didn't stop there, and continued to wail punches into the black thorax, wet crunches and smacks only dwarfed by the enraged cry emanating from well inside the creature. The spider's legs trembled and suddenly gave way, the massive beast collapsing on the berserker Faunus.

"Naruto!"

The groaning body of the monster shifted and crawled on the ground in agony, steam escaping from underneath its carapace until it finally stilled.

Just when they were about to tear into the armored body in an attempt to search for the young man's body, something shifted the hulking corpse ever so slightly. Still on top of the overgrown mutant tarantula, Sasuke tapped the shell with his foot experimentally. They all were inexorably still as two thunks came back as an answer.

"Troublesome." They heard Sasuke mumble as he wound his one arm back and then plunged it into the carcass.

Seconds and an awful wet ripping noise later, he held Naruto in the air by the scruff of his jacket. He held a weary thumbs-up.

"Good save."

Jubilations were postponed once again as the creature shuddered and Sasuke was forced to drop Naruto as the surface he stood on shifted. The two quickly leapt off to join their comrades.

"I told you." Sasuke glared pessimistically. "The direct approach doesn't work."

Sure enough, Salem or whatever she had become was healing itself, and if anything seemed to be getting better at it. They watched in disgust and horror as Grimm which had been wandering aimlessly across the battlefield, threw themselves upon the squirming arachnid. Airborne Grimm plunged headlong into the gaping hole left by Naruto, and their black bodies congealed over the surface making it impossible to see that any damage had even been done.

"Fuck."

This time, Ruby didn't try to correct anyone.

"What now?"

That was always the question. What now? What came next? What twists and turns would life throw at them, and how would they adapt to it? At what point would they stop bending in the breeze and simply break? All indications pointed to now being that time.

Ruby felt the Kyuubi nudging at its bonds, and she made to suppress it again. But something was different than the other times. It wasn't struggling, pounding at her subconscious trying to break free. It was a mere rhythmic tapping in comparison, and it was issued in her direction, not Naruto's.

Against her better judgment, she allowed it to speak.

" **Are you ready, Little Rose?** "

"Ready for what?"

Ozpin had been right. This meeting with the Kyuubi was an amalgamation of all their previous encounters, culminating in this bottomless cavern with the beast in question perched once again on a pedestal out of reach.

" **To give your all.** "

"Do you even need to ask that?" Though knowing that time moved differently in her mind, Ruby was still impatient while her friends were still stuck scared outside. "I'm here, aren't I?"

The Fox smiled, and while it was by far the least threatening thing she'd seen, it still sent shivers up her spine.

" **While I admire your resolve, I want to make sure you understand what you are getting into.** "

"That's a first." Ruby huffed and crossed her arms. "You mean to say your actually going to explain things to me instead of being all mysterious? Why now? Why should I even believe you?"

" **I've told you before, and I will tell you as many times as necessary,** " It lay down with its head resting in between its paws, far calmer than the impatient young woman. " **I am not your enemy.** "

"'Not in the way I think'." Ruby paraphrased while mocking air quotations. "What does that even mean?!" She shouted in exasperation, throwing those quotes to the side. Time may move differently in the realms of the mind, but there was no saying that her friends weren't dying out on the surface.

The Fox sat there contemplative, as if he hadn't spent months working on exactly what he was going to say. He had, but nothing he prepared seemed appropriate for this species which continued to be so damned ornary.

" **It is a noble thing, to commit yourself against the evil of this world.** " The poignancy behind the words stopped Ruby's fuming. " **But can you distinguish a difference between evil and darkness? Can you separate an action that is right and one that is good? Can you reconcile that these things aren't mutually exclusive? It takes most living things decades, if not centuries to understand the difference. It is poor circumstance that forces you to learn these things now, Little Rose.** "

"I'm not little!" Ruby denied fervently, her hands clenched and trembling by her side. "I'm not some child that doesn't understand the way the world works. _You_ saw to that, didn't you?" The Kyuubi made no movement to acknowledge the accusation, and merely looked on expectantly. "I know that life isn't always fair, and we can't always save everyone." Contrary to the brave face she put on, her mind still lingered on her Uncle. "But that doesn't mean we shouldn't keep trying! We all make mistakes and we just have to learn from them. So whatever deal you're offering, I don't want any part in it! I've learned from my mistakes, so if you're not trying to help me, send me back and leave me alone!"

The last word rang out in the cavernous silence, dropping down, down into the darkness below.

" **So it is.** " The Fox had perked its head up to listen to Ruby's monologue, and nodded slowly in what seemed to be sympathy. " **I should know, I have made more mistakes than any living being in this universe, and the previous. I am merely trying to correct one of them.** " It sighed deeply, and Ruby could feel the scentless but warm breath caress her face from across the chasm.

" **It was partly my fault that we ended up here.** " She somehow understood that the 'we' belonged to everyone, and not just the two otherworlders. " **It was my hubris and impatience which drove me to escape during that moment of weakness so long ago, spurred me to overload the boy with power he wasn't ready for, and which helped bring them here.**

" **You are right, Ruby Rose, that there is darkness in this world and it is hardly fair where it strikes. But like it or not, that is normal. Though In the hands of humans, that darkness becomes honed, becomes evil. Such as it is with that woman pretending to be a god.**

" **But this is why I ask you: can you tell the difference between negativity and evil? Can you understand the necessity of balance and all that means? Even if you defeat Salem, another darkness must necessarily take her place and there is only one way you can be ready for it.** "

"How?" Ruby questioned softly, though felt like she already knew the answer.

" **Help me take her place.** "

"And why… should I help you do that?" She tried to sound defiant, though her voice trembled with the precognition of the inevitable.

The great beast did not laud its preordained victory over her head as she expected. It did not try to obfuscate or dissemble, speak in riddles or even lie to her face. She could have tasted whatever deceits it tried to use, much as she always twigged those white lies told to her in the name of 'the greater good' from people she ought to trust, people who ought to have known better.

" **You sense the truth. I know you do. You ask me why you should help me, but inside you already know the answer, just as you feel my presence inside of you. I told you that I am not an enemy, and you want to believe that. You want to believe in the goodness of everything… or rather, the efficacy of it all. To the extent that you view the best in something like me.** " The fox chuckled, a sound like rocks grating together.

" **I suppose, that is what makes you special? You see, there is nothing special about me. I am a force of destruction and chaos. In my world, one of nine such constructs made to level the playing field. Now, I am but one.**

" **But in your world, that is one too many. I cannot share this plane with that woman who is but a travesty of such pure ideas.** " It snarled silently, bearing snow-white teeth stuck in gums the color of tar. " **I am all too familiar with her kind. Even before I absorbed the consciousness of the Grimm, I was subject to humans trying to surpass nature. But you are not like them, are you? You would not try to upset this order.** "

Its words in earnest made the young woman retract with a nervous blush, though why she could not fathom. She did not understand why this embodiment of destruction, this manifestation of everything she rebelled against was so infatuated with her.

"I… I just want to be able to protect everyone I can to make the world a better place." She returned to those naïve sounding words which she half realized was the language of this dire conversation. "I don't want to be famous. I don't want to be powerful. I just want to be strong enough." Her eyes quit the craggy floor and trained back on the basketball-sized irises tuned her direction. "I don't want to be your jailer. I want to help you, too. But right now…. I don't even know how to help myself."

The Kyuubi hummed softly, at least for him, which ended up shaking the entire room and dislodging a few stray tears beading up in her silvery eyes.

" **I believe you understand.** " It truly wanted to. As she was rapidly approaching that leap of faith, it too was striking out blindly from the other side. " **I will guide you as best I can. However, as always, there is a price.** " It regarded the girl's flinch with sadness. It truly did not want to hurt her. Not when its victory was so sullied.

" **We've been down this road before.** " It spoke so that she did not have to ask. " **Just as there can only be one in darkness, there also must only be one in light.** "

"NO!"

The Fox recoiled in surprise as the shout sent shockwaves throughout the chamber and wrinkled its fur.

"I know what you're going to say, and if that's the price I won't do it!" She stomped her foot and again another earthquake shook the rock- hard earth. "You're going to tell me that in order for you to beat Salem, Naruto has to give up his life, because he's the 'key'."

The Kyuubi did not answer because it was not a question. It let the tiny girl divest herself of these frustrations, because they would only get in the way, and because it still had faith that she was going to make the right decision in the end.

" **When an animal escapes the lock is broken, while the cage remains intact."** It answered simply at last.

When it became obvious that his charge was growing increasingly uncooperative with this copout, it began to mull something over in its mind, tongue lolling in clenched maw. " **There is… a chance, although slim, that it could be you, this time.** " It rebelled at this possibility, however slight. Either way would be a loss. " **But it hardly matters if you aren't willing to go through with it. If then, what will you do? No fraction of my power will give you enough to beat her. And even if by some miracle you do, there will be nothing to fill the void left by her absence, and only chaos will take her place.** "

Ruby bit her lip and stomped the ground, another major spike on the Richter scale. The Fox grew wary of those silver eyes which gleamed spades at the ground, but which could easily be trained on him.

" **You expected this,** " it rationalized, **"even if you didn't realize it fully. Do you think that Naruto doesn't also know, that he too doesn't feel the necessity? Do you think he would hesitate at the possible sacrifice? Go ahead, reach out and feel him, reaffirm your faith.** "

She didn't want to, but she did. It was hard not to, when she knew he was so close. It was like a bonfire, that eve if she closed her eyes she would feel the heat caressing her cheek. And like a fire, it bathed her in heat to ward off the chill of doom, so strong as to be uncomfortable.

" **He already knows because of the link he shares with the original. He has resisted it, much like you have. But also like you, he has already intuitively accepted it, even if he doesn't fully grasp why the dichotomy is necessary. Maybe he would have, if he continued to be my host. But that all changed, thanks to you, Little Rose."**

The phrase came to Ruby's mind: damned if you do, damned if you don't. Even if the Fox turned out to be some kind of 'Benevolent Evil', if there was such a thing, the outcome could hardly be considered a victory. Unlike previous SNAFU's they had endured, it was guaranteed they were not all coming back from this one unscathed.

"What do I have to do?" The words were defeated before they even left her mouth, and slunk down into the abyss.

" **Whatever you do,** " She stirred at the gruff tone."… **do not despair. Keep trying, isn't that what you said?** " The words which tried so hard to appear mocking made the young woman perk up with their familiarity.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were trying to cheer me up." The Fox's mammoth lip twerked in response to the half-hearted cheek.

" **I have spent millennia trying to find my perfect nemesis. It would be disappointing to lose you now after so long a search.** "

She supposed she should have felt honored by the admission. But at the moment, she couldn't feel much of anything. Not until the Fox extended a scraggly paw her direction, easily bridging the short gap between them. Funny, she would have judged the distance to be a lot farther away before.

" **Hold tight to your strength, Little Rose. When we fight, I want you at your best.** "

Whatever modicum of cheer the gesture brought forth were almost as quickly extinguished by the revelation that they would face each other in the near future. But rather than give up, the knowledge that something came next rekindled hope from those smothered embers.

"Okay." She reached out to touch the menacing nail that was as big as her whole arm, but shrunk back as fleeting rational snapped at her wrist. "You promise not to harm my friends? What about Naruto's old self?" She traced the living flesh of the Fox in search of any trace of pink flesh.

" **As I said, I want you at your best, and you derive your strength from protecting others. I have no reason to harm your friends right now. As for my former jailer… both halves will be needed in order to unlock the seal."**

"I see…" Her hand drooped along with that thin thread of hope, slipping out of her grasp. "What… what about you?"

" **?** "

"If we're not enemies… can we maybe be friends?" She tried not to sound desperate, tried to shrug off all those needy tendencies she knew she displayed. She was done grasping at threads, and was instead clutching the illusory space left by their absence. But despite knowing the insanity, she didn't want to lose that one remnant of her blond companion.

The Kyuubi gave the young woman another one of its toothy smiles which reminded her of the mountains in Atlas, and it curled its human-like fingers in on themselves to form a loose fist.

" **How about both?** "

The young woman appeared to mull the question over in her head as she stared at both bodily extensions.

"Alright." She said at last with the barest spindles of hope winding in to her voice, and raised her fist to form the gentlest of contacts with the massive Fox. "Frenemies it is."

Life goes on.

She grabbed Naruto's hand who was still watching the reforming Salem with growing worry on his face. He turned to her with no small surprise.

"Ruby, what are you-?"

Whatever came next was struck down as a pair of lips pressed themselves against his own. It was sloppy, it was awkward, it was painful, it was magical, and it was so, so very brief. While some of the others turned to gawk, she trailed her mouth over to his ear, and whispered something into it. There was no joy on either face as they embraced tightly as if it were the last time. He whispered something back that went unheard by the rest beneath the monstrous cry which threatened to tear the sky asunder.

Man and woman broke apart, lingering only momentarily before steeling themselves for the final confrontation. As soon as they separated, Sasuke grabbed Naruto by the lapel and yanked him in close with the unquestioning mechanical strength. He choked on berating words when he saw the soft smile and faceted resolution on his comrade's face. 'Don't do it' became instead:

"How can I help?"

"Keep her still for us." Naruto put his own firm hand on Sasuke's shoulder. "And stay safe."

In the brief contact with Ruby, Naruto too learned the score. Ever the underdog, he rebelled against the inevitability of his sacrifice, but not the intent. He would always be ready to give himself over in a heartbeat, and that idiosyncrasy was something they couldn't take away, nor predestine for him. If he was going to be a martyr, it would be his choice.

Salem lumbered off the ground and turned to the six of them. She had been growing increasingly slow with each minute that passed, but conversely became that much more undeniably powerful. She was like geologic event which spanned eons, but shaped mountain ranges in her wake.

She shrieked at them, all vestiges of humanity lost as the demonic power consumed her. All that was left was the very human spite and desire for vengeance.

The huntresses and huntsmen all flew into action. Ruby's teammates still holding very serious reservations about what their leader had planned. But they were committed to the young woman heart and soul, and unable to see a better way out of the mess they were in.

Weiss lead the charge, leaping into the midst of tangled limbs with an acrobatic twirl, releasing salvos of ice dust at each of the limbs and reinforcing her work with glyphs which stuck the fingered-feet to the ground.

Blake leapt over ice and appendage alike, weaving in and out while trailing her ribbon behind her. She passed the connected sheath to Yang on the other side, who jammed her feet into the ground and gave a mighty yank.

Salem's spidery form collapsed back down on the ground, while her parasitic human body tried to claw its way out from underneath. More of the black tendrils that Sasuke had been fighting sprouted from the joints where the legs met the body, but the young man himself leapt onto the middle of her back with his remaining two swords spinning around him like a buzz saw. A swing of his arm and he tossed the invisibly linked blades like a shuriken, slicing all the tentacles off at the base with a garbled shriek. He finished by catching the weapon by its non-existent center, and sent it once again into the connection between thorax and abdomen, drilling down deep into the inky flesh.

"Any time now!" He shouted over the buzzing, screaming, writhing cacophony.

"You ready?" Naruto glanced at Ruby who was trying to remain strong for the both of them.

"Dummy." She sniffled. "I'm the one that's supposed to ask that."

"You never have to ask me that." Naruto said with a reassuring smile. "I'm always ready. I promise I'll never leave you to do things on your own."

"Idiot." She smiled, tears beginning to bloom. "Don't make promises you can't keep."

"I told you," He said, offering his hand one last time. She could feel the Kyuubi biting at the bit, waiting in eager anticipation. "It's the promise of a thousand lifetimes. Whatever happens, I'll be waiting for you."

She took his hand in hers, her warm strength radiating outwards, matching that familial bonfire.

"Deal."

Only Ruby knew what truly happened next. The rest were blinded by a light which erupted from her stomach, a light which seemed to swallow up all others in that bleak night and consuming all darkness with it so that there was nothing but pure emptiness and the hollow echo of sounds which had no point of origin and no surface to impede them.

Then the Fox was there. Its rosewood fur glimmered in the relit moonlight, and its eyes shone silver amongst the stars. Even those that had seen it previously were struck by the same feelings of awe and terror as before, and could not even bring themselves to question if this was really the right decision.

Sasuke found himself pinned underneath the great beast, between it and Salem. It moved to look at its paw as if inspecting a splinter, freeing him. He tried dragging himself away on one arm but knew that he couldn't make it far.

Blake came out of nowhere to land beside him and grabbed what remained of him by his collar. They both looked up to see the fox smirking down at them and froze. It mouthed something akin to 'Run along now,' and they graciously accepted without hesitation.

As soon as she dragged the two of them out of the way, the Fox turned its attention to the arachnoid being crushed under its palm. It was still struggling, trying to drag itself away to reform. The Fox was not about to let it do that.

The Kyuubi tore into the inky construct ravenously, wrenching the legs off two at a time and swallowing them whole. It shoved its snout into the gooey carapace and started noshing on whatever was inside. All the while Salem's human body screaming out in unfathomable pain and rage from underneath.

She was the last to go. Even as the Fox busily masticated the thorax she was glued to, she was struggling to get away from her self-made prison. She struck blindly at its teeth, trying to get a handhold to prevent herself from slipping down into its gullet. All the while the Kyuubi watched her with insatiable eyes which were wide with pleasure. Then it cocked its head to the sky and slurped the rest down in one big gulp.

Team RWBY watched from the relative safety of the tree line with expressionless intrigue, marred only by the occasional twinge of horror. It was not long until they realized they were missing their captain, no plan of retreat involved leaving her behind. It was not hard to find her, for the Fox had finished its meal and was looking straight down at the red and black form.

"You aren't going to eat me now, are you?" Ruby spoke softly so that the conversation was only between her and the Fox.

" **Only if I wanted to get this foul taste out of my mouth.** " It gave a toothy grin, and Ruby found herself honestly not caring either way.

It ceased grinning and loomed over her, its hot breath tickling her neck and ruffling her messy locks even as she played despondently with the golden head of hair in her lap. Its breath smelled of the dry westerly wind.

" **You remember, I am not your enemy, Little Rose.** " The earthy tone shook her bones, but she ignored it in favor of stroking the unresponsive body in her arms.

There was a rumbling growl which came from the very pit of its stomach, and rustled the leaves on tops of trees. But still she did not move. It wasn't angry, just upset like she was.

" **You have the power to control me with those eyes of yours.** " Its booming voice was but a whisper in her ear, an earthmoving secret. " **I need to know that you won't do this, that you will let me be the darkness in this world to keep things in balance.** "

"Even if I do, it won't bring him back, it won't make things right." Her own whisper barely heard by the Fox's massive ears. "Why does it always have to be him?"

She looked up to the meet the eyes staring down at her past an impossibly long snout. Silver to silver, stars winking secret code in the night sky.

" **Some might say it was his destiny. He would probably say that it was his good luck that it was not you.** "

The Kyuubi reached a paw out to the still body in her lap, a single claw delicately tracing the path in his hair next to hers.

" **But do not accept this. Continue to ask why. Rebel against it. Fight against the darkness, against me. Ask why not. It will be hard, but don't ever lose that resilience. The world always needs people like you.** "

"But why him? Is it because he was too nice? Or was it because I was?" Her tears ran down the whisker marks on his eternally calm face.

" **There's not always a reason.** " The Kyuubi sighed again and drew back up to its full height. " **Contrary to what you humans think, destiny is something reserved for godly beings. No matter how inevitable it seemed this story was going to end up this way, in the end it was his choice as well as yours. The reason why you always choose the hardest path resists knowing. You humans defy reason. It's one of the things that makes you so…interesting.** "

Then it got up and turned around, walking carefully into the perpetually dark woods like a ghost, the grass growing and then withering at its feet.

And then it was gone.

….

Glynda stepped off the gangway and onto the dock. The sun was high overhead and it was as glorious a day on Menagerie as ever there had been. Not too warm, and not too cool, the perfect equinox as the dead of Winter gave way to the birth of Spring. Or was it the Summer dying off to Fall?

Either way didn't hold a candle to the bittersweet melancholy which had plagued her all the way from Vale.

"Ms. Goodwitch?" The deep male voice called her attention back to the ground.

"Yes." She set her single piece of luggage down on the salt-warn docks and held out her hand to the massive black-haired Faunus. "You must be Ghira Belladonna. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Believe me, the pleasure is all mine." He chuckled lowly and shook her hand in turn with his meaty paw. His words were a flattery she was used to, but delivered in such an honest timbre that she could tell he meant them.

"Did you know that you are the first headmaster to ever set foot on Menagerie?"

"No." Glynda blinked, scanning the sparse crowd as if noticing for the first time they were all Faunus. "I did not."

"It's a shame. I'd like to believe our city is very beautiful, and the people friendly." Glynda agreed with a tacit nod.

"Now that the trouble seems to be over, that is." She picked up her bag and followed the man into the city, presumably to his head office and home. They ended up walking side by side, one not necessarily leading the other, the two not necessarily walking anywhere.

"We owe your students a debt of gratitude."

"We **all** owe them a debt of gratitude." A debt which could never be repaid.

She paused in her stride, rubbing her eyes as she looked upon a group of children playing blissfully in the dusty street, as if there hadn't just been several senseless murders a few weeks ago, as if the world hadn't just ended in forfeit.

"But was it too great a price to pay?" She felt silly for even asking. One life in exchange for thousands, hundreds of thousands, was not a question worth pondering. "I swore that I was never going to bury another student for as long as I lived." She pretended to adjust her glasses, so that the man would not see the tears brimming in her eyes.

"Then don't." Ghira said seriously with restrained compassion. "Let us take care of his body. We will return it to nature from whence it came."

"And that poor girl has been through so much. First her mother, then her…friend, and now I have to tell her that her we were unable to save her uncle. Did I fail them somehow? Was there something I should have done differently?" Glynda moved the hand rubbing her eyes to her forehead and gave a sniffle. "Gods, we just met, why am I shouldering this all on you?"

"It comes with the position." His smile turned somber. "When being a leader in a community, people will look up to you and look to confide in you. It is your duty to be strong even when you are hurting." He looked to the woman who had retrieved a handkerchief and was busy recomposing herself. "I can tell by the way Blake and her friends act that you have done a fine job of doing just that. Instead of asking yourself what you could have done, worry about being for them now, when they need you most."

"You're right. Of course you're right." She drew a deep breath. "Sorry. Shall we continue?"

"When you are ready."

They trod down the main drag in uninterrupted silence, life bustling around them and passersby offering both of them a bright greeting.

"Forgive me for asking," The Faunus mayor began abruptly. "But as a father I must know. What is going to happen now?" Glynda continued staring straight ahead a she answered.

"You mean the school? From all we understand, Salem is gone, and most of her cohorts are dead, behind bars, or scattered to the four winds. I suppose the best thing to do would be to try and return things to normal as much as we can. Most of the students are being recalled form their missions, and classes should resume by the time I return."

"You won't inform the other kingdoms?" Her mouth upturned in a strained smile.

"How do you go about telling them we allowed a gigantic nine-tailed fox-demon who can disappear without a trace to roam free in the countryside?" She shook her head. "Even if they were to believe it, you wouldn't want the attention focused over here."

"Huh. You got that right." He gave a single laugh and folded his arms. "What about the other boy, that Sasuke kid? He was in bad shape afterwards."

"That's being taken care of by our good friends in Atlas." She thought to the conversation she had only hours ago on the boat. "It's the beauty of having an artificial body, I suppose."

"And friends in high places."

"Mm. Indeed." She looked up to the man with the first hopeful smile he had seen on her face since meeting her. "And if things go well, you may yet learn the benefit of that as well."

"Humph." Ghira scoffed, but smiled as he shook his head. "I'd never thought I'd see the day when Atlas would be extending an olive branch to Menagerie. Times indeed are changing." And they both knew who to thank.

So, was it worth it? Was it worth all the pain and heartbreak, the deception and suspicion? It was only life one among many, but they held that one above the others. And to what end? They had slain the devil they knew in place of the one they did not. It wasn't fair, but it was the way things happened.

Was that their mistake? To believe that a single life could be worth more than another? In a way, that's what Salem believed, it was what any normal living being believed. Normal people valued their own lives above others. Heroes, perhaps, the other way around.

They arrived at the man's house and stopped in front of the side entrance. Ghira turned to the headmistress.

"They are in there. I'll leave you alone." He proceeded to make his way to the front steps but paused and turned back around to see Glynda still staring at the lattice frame. "I hope… that you are able to find contentment. Some day."

Glynda hummed softly and looked up to the plain wood lintel spanning the doorway. She reached up and plucked a leaf which had become wedged in a splinter. She studied it, admired its intricacies so unfathomably dense that they would never know the beautiful whole they created.

"We don't always find what we seek." She said, folding the leaf in her palm and placing it on her chest. "And sometimes… even those seekers might not find anything at all. But we keep searching. We keep going on until one day we encounter something worth finding. Maybe not what we set out looking for, but the thing which completes us, the thing which we need most."

She tucked the leaf into the fold of her coat. Without waiting for a reply, she picked her bag back up, slid back the door, and stepped in.


	21. Through the Roof and Underground

"Well, that was fun." Nora turned around after the well-wishers she had been waving to on the dock were nothing but specks on the horizon.

"Indeed. But I think it will be nice to get home." Pyrrha joined in her teammates enthusiasm, but frowned seeing the faraway look on her captain. "Don't you think Jaune? Jaune?"

"Yeah, sorry Pyrrha. I heard you." The young man muttered, continuing to look at the disappearing shoreline of Anima.

"Well, don't you think it'll be nice to return to Vale?" Ren interrogated, trying to lead his despondent captain into revealing his current woe which had been plaguing the lanky blond for days. "I know that you and Lorán didn't always get along great…"

" **That's** an understatement." Nora snorted, picking a gob of wax out of her ear and flicking it overboard.

"It's not that." Jaune sighed and left the railing, turning around to face his teammates. "Or maybe it is." He would not yet admit that he missed the eccentric quartet. "I mean, it's just calling it 'home' somehow seems wrong."

"What do you mean?" Pyrrha asked, slightly hurt.

"Well, it's just that…" The young man scratched the back of his head, unsure if the words he was using were the right ones. "You guys are like my family. And It just seems to me that wherever you guys are is kinda like my home." He ended the declaration with a modest blush, unsure if he was being too presumptuous.

"Daawww! That's sweet Jaune!" Nora gave him his first reply as she glommed onto the tall blonde and began squeezing him like a teddy bear. She soon dragged Ren into her embrace and looked longingly at Pyrrha whom she didn't have arms enough to rope in.

The amazon chuckled and stepped into the mass of bodies, finding an empty spot on Jaune and giving him a firm, but not suffocating embrace. They broke when Nora got hungry and went to raid the galley for sugary snacks, Ren hurrying to do damage control.

"Did you really mean it?" Pyrrha asked once they were the only two remaining on deck.

"What? About you guys being like my family?" Jaune asked, having just recovered both his oxygen and his senses. "Of course! I mean, I know I have a family, but you know with that many people things can sometimes get, I don't know… impersonal?"

Pyrrha nodded, not really able to empathize, but equating it to the situation with her and her fans.

"But then why did you look so sad?"

Jaune turned downcast at the shiny-new wood planks on the vessel.

"I just feel…as if we could have done more. There are just so many people that don't get to go back home." His words were so profoundly dejected that Pyrrha felt her heart ache just listening. "So many homes that are no longer complete."

"Far fewer than if all of you had not been there." Both students looked up to see the increasingly familiar face of Oscar Ozpin.

"Headmaster? What are you doing here? I thought you were going to stay in Mistral." The man just chuckled and swirled his tea (gently working the bitter drink back into is repertoire).

"How many times need I tell you, Ms. Nikos? I am no longer the headmaster." Ozpin sidled up alongside his former students, seemingly oblivious to the intimate setting he had interrupted.

"And there are many reasons why I am here. Some day I too hope to know all of them, though I suppose I should blame Oscar's parents." He chuckled at the unimpressed looks he was receiving. "However, I am here on the ship back to Vale because there are quite a few loose ends I can only tie up in person." He looked over at Jaune who always found curiosity in the man's vague words.

"You all have done far more than what would normally be expected of you, and far more honestly than I though you capable of. Do not be so quick to take the world's problems on your shoulders."

"But if I don't, who else will?" The young lad fired back, staring pointedly at the revenant. Ozpin was not slow to catch on.

"I think you will find there are far more willing people in the world than you might first imagine." Jaune thought back to their first days in Mistral, many months ago. "Sometimes it just takes a little prodding, sometimes an example. But everywhere you go, you will find people who will fight against the status quo, and welcome others with open arms. Now then," He waltzed away from the railing, leaving the two teammates on their own.

"I suggest you two think hard about what you are going to do when you get back to Beacon. There won't be a lot of spare time before classes start, and you should make the most of what you have available."

"Wait, professor!" The stately teen turned a curious eye back to the young man who called out to him.

"Yes?"

"Um, what's the first thing you're going to do when you get back?" Jaune finished weekly, shelving his real question for some time in the future.

"Me?" Ozpin raised an eyebrow in feigned surprise. "Well, I would like to think that I might finally get my cane back!"

…

Sasuke opened his eyes in what had become an increasingly familiar state of total alertness.

The room, however, was not. This was not the stark laboratories of Atlas's scientific military base. Not by a long shot. It was quaint, and dare he say, homely. The furniture such as the couch he lay on were upholstered with a worn leather, and colors on the walls and floor were a palette of tranquil blues infinitely more welcoming than the antiseptic white furnishings in Atlas.

"Good morning!" That voice was familiar, and he lifted his head to see the meek Polendina waddle into the room with a disposable tray with four paper coffee cups.

"Morning." He supposed it was, the atomic clock in his head sinking up with local time. "Why am I here?"

The doctor laughed, placing his burden on the short glass table in the center of the room.

"Always straight out with it. I do wonder if you were this way before or if this is a result of the increase in efficiency? Ah well, no sense bothering you with that. You're here because we thought it might be nice to wake up in a more familiar setting rather than the examining table again! Well, isn't it?"

The man fired off questions to a Sasuke who still wasn't sure whether he was awake.

"I suppose." He scanned the room again. "I've never been here, though."

"No? Well, probably not this room _specifically_. I don't see why you'd ever have reason to go into the teacher's lounge, but they couldn't fit they gurney in through the doors to the dormitories, so well, there you have it…"

Sasuke sat up and was about to grumble that the man hadn't told him anything, when he managed to piece the words together. That, along with a passing recognition with both his memory and his memory banks made him recognize the room's furnishings.

"I'm in Beacon?"

"Of course. Didn't I say that?"

"No."

"Ah, oh well, in any case, Glynda said you would be more comfortable here. It was sure hard on old bones like me to travel all this distance just to patch you up, but I've dropped off enough spare parts and fuel that you should be alright on your own for the near future."

Without bothering to sit down, the man plucked two of the coffee cups and made for the door.

"You're not staying?" Sasuke asked, bemused by the old man's strange behavior.

"No, no. Much too much to do back in the lab. Don't worry. We'll be seeing you in a few months for Penny's birthday. She'll be turning five this year!"

Nothing in the vast reserves of preordained responses could make up for the abrupt visit and subsequently abrupt exit by the good doctor. Sasuke sat perplexed, even more disjointed than normal.

He tested his arms, his hands, his wrist, needing a physical assurance that he was working as well as could be expected before attempting to make a go at the coffee. It wasn't going anywhere.

He wasn't sure if he would ever fully get used to being in this state. It was still the dichotomy, that conundrum of being both familiar and so foreign. An idea which matched his very existence in this world. He made to reach for the coffee cup, something commonplace to ground him in his swirl of unrelenting thought.

There was one left to choose from.

His hand stopped short, outstretched like a tree branch. Was he malfunctioning? Had he been captured and was now being interrogated within an illusion?

A deliberate and impish slurp drew his attention to the now closed door. He closed his eyes and huffed. Grabbing the remaining paper cup, he stood up and moved to the waste-bin opposite the doorway to throw away the cardboard holder.

"No need to stand on my account." He could feel her amusement even in the trill vibrations his more delicate sensors picked up.

"I could say the same for you." He made his way back to the couch and sat, nodding for his guest to take the seat across from him.

The sly Cat Faunus smirked and glided across the room, sliding into the vacant space on the couch much to Sasuke's bewilderment, which he reserved to an understated raised eyebrow. They fell into a silence in which he nursed the sturdy paper cup with both hands, unsure what else to do or say but reassured by the innocuous gesture.

Questions burgeoning since he woke became obsolete. Now he was asking himself why she had come to see him alone.

"The others are waiting." She admitted with a rueful smile. "But I asked Polendina not to tell them when you were up. I just wanted to be alone for a while."

"Why?"

He was suspicious, fearful, and possibly even a little hurt. He was not stupid, though, and could read the underlying message being conveyed. But with everything that had happened, how could she be so focused on trivialities? How could she have devolved to being one of his fangirls?

"I know it's selfish." Blake muttered, turning inward and refusing to meet his ever-steely gaze. "I know we don't really have any reason to feel good about ourselves… but isn't that reason enough? Shouldn't we try to enjoy what little time we're given, what few opportunities we have?"

She curled her feet underneath her on the sofa, the prop-drink forgotten on the low-lying coffee table. She hugged her knees. And stared out the window so he wouldn't see her start to cry. She knew he disliked weak personalities, and at the moment she disliked herself.

Why was she crying? She wasn't a weak woman, not by any means. Even though she felt like she had fallen behind the others in her circle lately, she was still fiercely independent. But being independent didn't mean wanting to be alone. Was it so wrong to want a little bit of happiness for herself, to offset this anticlimax?

Silently a finger whisked away the tear which had not yet fallen. She whipped her head around to see Sasuke's robotic expression very much closer. She bore her fangs behind rosy cheeks for being caught in that moment of frailty.

"There is no denying what we want, is there?" His words were soft, contradicting his expressionless mask. "Revenge, loyalty, justice, hate, love, selfishness, generosity… they're all part of being alive."

He brought the single tear beading on the tip of his finger close to his face, looking at it with detached curiosity as it fixatedly reflected his image despite his slowly rotating finger.

"I've been selfish for a long time, and I don't really know where it has gotten me." He dropped his hand and let the tear roll off his finger on to the carpeted floor. "I've got to be honest, Blake. I don't know what I want anymore. I don't know what I'm _allowed_ to want anymore." No matter how human he felt, there was still the knowledge that he was still lacking, both physically and mentally. "I feel… incomplete, and it has nothing to do with this body- well, little to do with it anyway."

He smirked, but there was no heart in it. He turned to face her, as she gave him her undivided attention. Both drinks long forgotten.

"The way I am is little different than the way I've always been. It's not good to be around me. I'm toxic, and chance are I'll just drag you down."

He knew that wasn't what he was supposed to say in this situation. Somewhere inside of him he knew he was supposed to be the one to support her, to meet her at least half way. The artificial part of him knew this reciprocity better than his human did, even as he ignored it trying to make up for his flaws.

Blake looked like she was going to cry again- that or castrate him. She bit down hard on her trembling lip, to the point he would have expected to see a bit of blood. But then with a wry laugh, she closed her eyes and shook her head, angry rouge replaced with a weary smile. Then she opened her eyes, and he found himself trapped in that amber gaze.

"I understand. At least, I think I do." Sasuke's body receiving so many mixed signals tried to turn away, blush, scowl, and implode on himself simultaneously. But in overloaded state just continued listening unquestioningly. "I can do as you say. I can wait until you feel you're ready. But just for now…" Her voice came back in a whisper, and she unfolded her arms and legs, holding them out in an empty embrace "… indulge me."

He moved to fill that vacant spot, body moving on autopilot. His heavy head rested against her shoulder and his body draped across hers. He wanted to apologize, for he was sure his metallic structure was painfully heavy even though he felt like he would disappear into her arms.

But she didn't complain, didn't voice a sound beyond that low humming like a purr and the gentle inhale and exhale of her breath as it traveled across his rubbery skin and buried into that manicured pelt of hair.

Sasuke thought about whether he meant it, whether he really needed to distance himself again in order to find satisfaction. He could not say if he was hurting them more by being there or going away.

But either way, he thought about her words, and the others, or rather what remained of them. He imagined their arms spread wide like tree branches waiting an eternity for him to come back. And he thought of the one that was absent, waiting for his turn with a smirk and a knowing expression.

 _Wait a little longer, Naruto. I have things here I have to take care of._

…..

Winter Schnee scowled as she looked upon the disaster which awaited her past the blaring yellow tape and idly chatting city police. Despite the major victory they had managed to pull off, she could find no contentment in her day to day.

Maybe it was because it hadn't been _they_ which had done anything. Her little sister and her cohorts had managed to vanquish Salem and take down her empire pretty much single handedly. Although, they did have some help and guidance from an insufferable old Crow - _Who had gone and given up the ghost before she had a chance to get even!_

And here she hadn't even been able to avenge the slight made to her unit which took place during her 'vacation' in Vale. One Arthur Watts had broken in to a secure military facility in Atlas and assaulted General Ironwood had gone and gotten himself killed before they had a chance to apprehend him.

Or at least, that was what she was here to verify, along with why and how of this clusterfuck.

The explosion originated in the lab which was buried underneath a bustling apartment complex in downtown Atlas. Thankfully, most of the occupants had been out at work, or picking their kids up from school when the blast went off at 3:13 in the afternoon and caved in the brickwork building like a soufflé.

Which didn't make it any easier to ascertain a cause or whether in fact the culprit had been caught up in the explosion, as they had to unbury the crime scene first and foremost.

Thankfully she had the military corps of engineers at her disposal, and it was an unusually bright and sunny day in Atlas for the deconstruction work. Both of those facts giving her hope, again, despite the growing irritation with herself and others for not noticing their target had been right under their noses for so many months.

"Captain!"

A shout prevented her from degrading further into her pessimisms, and she straightened up, fixing the approaching sapper with a staunch face.

"Report, Sargent." The soiled soldier ended his salute, falling at ease and placed his weight on his rear leg and hands on the web belt holding his rescue equipment.

"It appears that we got lucky. Dr. Watts was smart enough to reinforce his lab from above with heavy-duty sound-proofing and radiation shielding. Even though the explosion collapsed the load-bearing support on one side, the ceiling stayed more or less intact and prevented the rest of the structure from destroying the other half of the lab. We were able to send a team down in to recover whatever might have survived."

"And Watts?" Winter asked with an impatient eyebrow narrowed at the far scene of white-clad figures crawling in and out of a fissure at the base of a pile of rubble.

The soldier turned back to the recovery effort, just in time to see two more engineers crawl their way out of the hole, a white-shrouded stretcher balanced ungainly between them as they clawed their way up the steep slope. An arm which was more like a jerky treat slipped loose on the side, and was quickly tucked back under the white tarp.

"… we'll be running analysis on the remains shortly."

Winter nodded, a modicum of satisfaction dulling her throbbing irritation.

"And the source?" The soldier stiffened and fumbled to remove his scroll to pull up what their technicians had uncovered.

"The blast took out the opposite side of the room we are currently excavating, so we won't know for sure for a while."

"Not good enough."

"W-well, so far we have found multiple scraps of metal belonging to a gold-titanium blend we have identified as being used in some Atlas tech. Mostly experimental stuff, though, so there isn't a whole lot of data to go off of to figure out what he might have been messing with."

Winter of course knew exactly what they expected to find, and again was somewhat relieved to be presented with this information.

"One other thing," She started out of her reverie when the soldier in front of her addressed her again with a small cough. "There was also a city-wide power outage which occurred right before reports of the blast came in. It's possible that whatever he was doing drained a whole lot of energy from the grid."

"Thank you for your _opinion, Sargent_. That will be all." The man gulped, before saluting smartly and quickly turning to hightail it back to the relative safety of the disaster.

There was a faint twinge of guilt for browbeating the innocent grunt in such a manner, but it was far beneath the strict propriety she knew she was necessary. They already had suspicions of what had transpired. That Watts, for whatever reason had tried to activate the machine he had stolen and gotten unintended results. But the machine as well as the theft itself were still tightly under wraps, and she couldn't have her subordinates getting nosey.

"And be sure to keep me informed, Sargent!" She called out to him as if in afterthought, though really just wanting to keep him busy as she turned tail herself and prepared for a much more important conversation.

The life-size hologram of General Ironwood sprung to life from the face of her scroll sitting on the charred pavement. Her salute was impeccable, but she still could not hide the dissatisfaction from her face.

"It's good to see you again, Winter." Ironwood gave a small smile at his subordinate's obvious frustration. "You're looking as well as ever."

"Thank you General. Likewise."

"Hmph. Don't lie to old men, it inflates their egos too much." He smirked underneath the plethora of bandages masking his face.

Winter wasn't sure if she should laugh, or feel embarrassed at being called a liar. So instead of either, she bit her cheek and related to her superior the up-to-date status of their efforts.

"I see." The man said, absently rubbing his stomach which was slowly healing. "No telling if they have found Sasuke's body, huh?"

"No sir," Once again, she couldn't help sounding defeated. "We are still excavating, but everything on the other side of the lab seems unrecoverable. I will let you know if we find anything as soon as I can, sir."

They would never find another body besides the corpse they had initially dragged from the basement wreckage which was later confirmed through dental records to be one Arthur Watts. They would never accumulate enough metal scraps to account for the entire machine which was lost, nor would they find anything else to explain what went wrong or why he chose to activate it in the first place.

No motivation and no signs of foul play being found, it wouldn't be long before the case was closed being qualified as an accident. And its secrets buried behind mountains of bureaucracy and within the dissatisfied minds of a scant few individuals.

Some would sleep better at night, knowing that one more of Salem's inner circle was accounted for. Winter was not one of them. In her mind, she had too big a debt to pay, too many failings she could not make up for. Too many things left unsaid.

Sasuke would himself not bemoan the lack of answers. As far as he was concerned, everything turned out for the best. There was only one of him in that world, and that was the way it should stay.

….

"I don't need your pity."

The behemoth of a man rolled his eyes as he prodded the small fire with the fractured remains of a blood-red katana, much to her ire. He set it next to him and began to absently skin the pile of rabbits on his other side using the broken tip of the same sword which had leather wrapped around the base to use as a handle.

"And I'd appreciate it if you'd stop using my sword as a kitchen knife."

He stopped what he was doing to stare at her silently with a single raised eyebrow, a touch of amusement lit up behind those dull brown eyes.

"Not much of a sword anymore." He grunted, resuming the meal preparation. "And I'm not much one for pity, either. Then again, I'm not one to leave an injured woman alone and unattended in the middle of the snow."

He finished the first rabbit and took up the other half of the sword again, skewering it and placing it on the fire with casual ease.

"It if makes you feel better, consider the sword payment for helping you out."

"It doesn't."

"Well then, that's too bad, Raven Branwen." He scowled and scuffed his boot against the ground, truly frustrated with his obstinate guest. "You're just going to have to live with it for now."

"Well see about that." She sat up painfully from the bed of animal skins she lay on, determined to show more strength than she knew she had right then. "Don't think I'll just lie back complacently while you offer me up to your mistress. I know who you are too, Hazel Rainart."

When he turned his face away from her, she could not see the pained glower and so was left to the implication that she had guessed correctly, which only furthered her desire to escape.

"She's gone." His hollow voice cracked along with the fire. "But you can feel that, can't you?"

Raven paused, searching her body for anything else besides pain. It was worse than looking for a needle in a haystack, rather the absence, the empty space where the needle should have been. She found it as a cold void in her heart.

"How did you…"

"You feel that, too." He dropped the next rabbit he was working on into the wicker basket.

"What exactly am I supposed to feel again?" She winced, shifting her weight off the jagged stones which were poking up through the furs.

"How should I know?" He scoffed. "Men can't be Maidens."

Raven froze at his words. But the moment of surprise didn't last long. She had, in fact, been expecting this, though quite what she would do with it, she didn't exactly know.

She looked at her calloused hand attached to a bandaged wrist. Twisted the stiff appendage in the flickering firelight. She glanced over to the rabbit slowly roasting on the fire, and suddenly the sizzling flesh was darkened with a flash of crackling electricity.

Hazel glowered at her as he pulled the morsel off its spit, smoking carcass still steaming in his hands. He winced at the heat before he threw it at Raven who caught it deftly.

"That one's yours, now."

"Thanks." She tore a hunk off ravenously, uncaring, and perhaps even a bit enticed by the charcoaled flesh which was seared over juicy flesh bleeding into her parched mouth.

"You know, I guess I do feel something." She spoke after a moment of contemplation and silence whilst she ate.

"What, exactly?" Hazel asked, genuinely curious to understand this side of magic.

Raven smiled bitterly.

"Like shit."

…

The little girl drunk in the pretty pink ball with wide, hungry eyes, anticipating the frozen treat which cried sugary sweat in the hot summer day. Just as she was about to catch one of those errant drops on her outstretched tongue, the whole sphere escaped from its crisp waffle cone and splattered on the dusty concrete with a resounding plop.

The girl wailed in abject disappointment for the loss of her treat.

She was old enough to have heard, and to understand the adage about not crying over spilt milk. She might have even begun to understand it in those underdeveloped neurons in her head. But in that particular instance of utter distress, all growing forms of maturity went out the window.

It wasn't like she didn't know that she would have the chance to taste the frozen treat again during her lifetime, or even during that particular summer for that matter. Hell, there was even a small chance that if she told her mom what happened, her mother might believe her and take pity to buy her a replacement.

But for children life was that instant. In the moment of loss, there was no logic in that prepubescent mind. Things didn't change much when they grew up, either.

She continued her histrionic bawling until there came a soft tapping on her shoulder. She ignored it, or perhaps couldn't feel it in that soul-crushing regret which was part of the natural bi-polar behavior for every child her age.

The tapping became an irritated prod, and while she did not stop crying, the girl did turn to see who was trying to disturb her in her self-pity. She came face to face with a near identical copy to her lost cone, this one staring at her with its slightly lopsided stripes of white and brown as well as the iconic rosy pink.

The girl blinked away tears which fled with the voraciousness of curiosity. She stared at the Neapolitan ice cream floating there with bemused wonderment and equally stupefied expression which was comical with the undignified red hue adorning her puffy cheeks.

The ice cream didn't laugh, though, and the one holding it just growled as it took the girl's chubby little fingers without permission and wrapped them around the fragile cone. Making sure she wasn't about to drop it in confused shock, the dessert's previous owner nodded to herself before letting go and quickly turned around before she changed her mind.

She didn't wait around for a garbled thanks, or even to see the child's expression shift from utter despair to unrestrained joy. Her good deed had been done for the day.

"That was awfully nice of you, Neo." The young woman with the same theme as the ice cream she had just bequeathed, stuck her tongue out at her green-haired companion.

Or should she say brunette? The simple hair dye seemed enough disguise for the still at large criminal. That along with the mismatched second-hand prosthetics and black cloth covering her right eye and disfigured part of her face made for a completely different image than the crude mugshot plastered over wanted posters strewn about the city.

In fact, Neo didn't say anything, as usual. She was still a little miffed at being ignored by the press and police alike, who seemed to have forgotten about her. That, and the fact that she had just given away her first ice cream in months. And for her, with the little amount of income coming in, likely the only one for the rest of that summer.

"Oh, quite sulking. Here." Emerald pressed her own frozen treat at the petulant young woman who stared skeptically at it, her gaze drifting up the rusty bronze arm, similar to the former natural skin color, and to the woman's expectant face. "Well?"

Neo frowned deeply, lips pursed in a way that reminded Emerald of the little girl Neo had done the same thing for.

"Come on, it's not poisoned you know. I just had a single lick." Neo glared at her lopsided smirk before snatching the cone from its delicate perch, expertly making sure not to make the same novice mistake and drop the precious comestible.

Emerald wanted to roll her eye and bask in the brief moment of moral victory, toying with the idea of pinching a dollar or two to buy herself a replacement. But before she could even consider whether her robotic hands were up to the task of pickpocketing, she saw Neo doing something over her hunched back. Emerald poked her head over her shoulder just as the diminutive woman shoved something her way, forcing her to back off and appraise the abrupt offering.

The half-serving of ice cream stared back at her judgmentally. Could dairy even be judgmental? It certainly appeared to be, the jagged half-sphere listing pitiably to the side in its holster making Emerald sweat as much as the rapidly melting confection. Still, she took it with a small chuckle as Neo marched on ahead, her half of the cone defensively held in both hands.

"Now I see why you keep me around…" She shook her head as she stiffly walked to catch up.

Neo once again turned around and stuck her tongue out at the older woman, chocolate staining the corners of her mouth.

"Love you, too."

…..

"I wish you could have met him. He was… one of a kind…"

Ruby smiled sorrowfully down at the granite stela as if waiting for an answer. The summer's sunset painting her unhooded face in Martian hues as the cool breeze rolled in off the ocean and tussled her obsidian hair.

It had been so long since she had visited her mother's gravestone, and all that time apart she had been thinking of what she might say. Now that she was there, she couldn't find the words.

She could be a storyteller. She could relate her adventures verbatim, embellishing them with enthusiastic hand gestures and imbuing them with more vivid detail than there had even existed. But to describe a person was so much more. There were thousands of those kinds of stories within a single lifetime, more than truth, they actually happened.

The gravestone and the one next to it stared back at her unsympathetically.

"Don't give me that, Uncle Qrow." She stared down accusingly at the fresh granite engraving in the shape of a cross, still not forgiving her role model for abandoning her so suddenly. "I know you two didn't always get along, but the least you could do is be nice to one another now." She looked back to her mother's time-worn rock.

"I'm sure you two would have gotten along. He's a lot like you, a lot like me." Her hands wrung with discomfort. "I-I don't know how else to describe him to you. I could say that he was always happy, and always kind, generous and selfless, but that wouldn't be entirely true." Ruby laughed and kicked at the same stone which had been there the last time around, time kind to its crystalline shimmer.

"And it wouldn't be fair. We both had a rough life. Somehow, he didn't let that bother him, and he made the best of it. Not that he was totally perfect." She scratched her cheek, slightly embarrassed by the admission. "He also slipped up, made mistakes and was kind of a dork too now that I think about it…" She waved her hands in frenetic denial. "N-not that that's a bad thing, or that I have any room to talk, heh, heh, heh." She rubbed the back of her head as she spiraled further downwards in her mired self-talk.

"I don't mean to say these things to make him sound bad. In fact, they made him so much better because he was a real-life person, and not some kind of imaginary friend or super-hero. Oh, Mom," Ruby sighed and kneeled in front of the unflinching tablet. "It just seems like I'm trying to justify him to you. Maybe I'm trying to make sense of it myself. I know you only want what's best for your little girl. But I just hope you can understand me when I say…

"I-I think I loved him."

The waves crashed far below, and suddenly despite the slowly dying heat of the summer's day, Ruby felt cold. And alone. Yang and her dad were waiting for her back home, but now that big house just felt empty.

" _That was pretty nice."_

She felt some of the warmth return to her from deep inside her chest, and she cupped her hands on her stomach.

"You heard that, huh?"

" _Of course. I know you can't see my face right now, but believe me I'm smiling. I really do appreciate it."_ Somehow, Ruby could feel the amusement rolling off like static electricity. _"It'd be nice if you'd quit referring to me in the past tense, though. Felt too much like a Eulogy."_

Ruby tittered, and the sensation bounded back, redoubling the lifting feeling it conveyed.

"Well, I think it's only right, don't you?" She traced the lines which still lay etched underneath her black velvet corset. "When you come back, you'll be a different person. You'll be both of you, and more." Admiration, and even a little jealousy crept in with that final thought.

There was no response for a while, and for that moment, Ruby wondered if the past week had been only her descent into insanity, and talking to herself just the latest culmination of her neurosis. She was relieved when the voice finally did come back, though it was far more solemn than before, and the weakness brought back that same winter's chill.

" _If…when, that happens. Will you still feel the same way?"_

"Nope!" She could feel the weight drop in her stomach, and for once, laughed gayly as she imagined her companion sulking somewhere in her gut.

"Of course It'll be different." She spoke with a soft smile, the dead forgotten as she clung on to the vestiges of the living. "We'll both be different. But I think that's okay, don't you? After all, we have to grow up some time."

She looked back to the graves one last time, the gem-like flash as the sun finally dipped below the horizon.

"No, it's better than okay. It'll be great. A new adventure, for all of us." Ruby turned away from the past, both recent and ancient, facing towards the dark woods which bore her future.

"Will you…" She whispered tentatively, seeing the growing shadows shift before her. "Will you, walk it with me?"

" _Of course. I made a promise, didn't I?_ " The response came back unhesitatingly. " _You should know the answer by now, I mean, how much closer can we get?_ "

Ruby felt herself smile and absently gave the seal one last pat, before embarking on her way back.

She saw her footprint in the well-worn path leading off towards faintly twinkling lights beyond. But then her feet veered her into the untrod tall grass, still wet, untouched by the sun's rays. Her heart seeking out the path less traveled.

" _I'll always be by your side, Ruby._ " His voice fetched gently, looking for comfort in his own darkness.

"I know."

…

Despite waking up on jagged volcanic rocks like a bed of nails digging into his back, and the constant mist of ice-cold water on his face rousing him from a solid sleep, he couldn't shake the innate feeling of contentment pervading through his core.

Why this feeling? What was the last thing he remembered, anyway? Snippets, brief flashes of a forest scene which reminded him of home and the subtly smiling black-haired beauty were the only thing flooding through his pounding head. This left him with a nostalgic longing that was both heartwarming and painful. Every time he tried to recall more, a splitting migraine like an ice-cream headache drove him to shut his eyes and concentrate only on the incessant drops running down his face until the only roar in his ears was the waterfall cascading in the background.

He groaned, attempting to sit up before realizing this would be a futile effort. Instead, he rolled onto his stomach and tried to push himself up, wondering when he had gotten so weak. Once he got his knees underneath him, ignoring the rocks like razor-blades digging into his knees, he opened his eyes.

In the darkness, he couldn't see where metal plate began and ended. If he could tear his eyes away from the symbol in the middle, he might have been able to tell, but that strange pointed swirl became the entire focus of his mind and body in those laborious minutes that followed. The eccentric engraving became the spiral of his entire universe.

He knew that symbol. Knew it like he knew the back of his hand, like he knew the familiar tug on his face of a displeased scowl.

Yet he couldn't place it. Like he had only seen it long ago, in a dream where forgotten upon waking, only to come face-to-face with it again. Like destiny.

Unable to maintain his position on elbows and knees, he sat up slowly, careful not to totter backwards into the river which was surely roaring behind him. His shadow no longer covering the strangely familiar symbol, he was able to see that it was but a small metal plate attached to a tattered blue cloth, and not the entirety of his existence like he surmised.

Though even this he doubted as he scooped it up instinctually, placing it in his lap while he looked up to the heavens.

The clear night sky was out in full form, light from stars thousands of years away prickling his bare-chest and grounding him more than the earth under his feet. This was his world, so much larger than what could fit underneath a piece of cloth.

Yet, it was missing something.

It was less the muted sound, and more the guttural instinct which let him know someone had arrived. He paid them no heed as he knew they were not what he was looking for.

"Sasuke…" the name invoked a pang of recollection in his mind which bred to more headaches which he forcibly repressed, not tearing his eyes away from the heavenly expanse above providing him an outlet.

"Kakashi…" His dry mouth answered for him, even before the memories came flooding back through the gap hammered open in his skull.

"Where's Naruto, Sasuke?"

"I don't…" Naruto. That was something that was missing. Where was he? More importantly, where was this person recently named Sasuke, and why weren't the two together like a portmanteau of people?

"He chased after you." The man he knew as Kakashi padded gently over to him, though he could hear the ravaged desperation in the man's voice. "He found you. You fought." These weren't questions. Sasuke supposed that they were the truth. "What happened. Where is he?"

"He's back there." The answer came to him, though for the life of him he couldn't remember where 'back there' was. Back in Konoha? Back in Wave? Back there on that trail chasing after his foolishness?

Kakashi was silent for a while, stopping just before Sasuke's sitting form. He could feel the man looming over him, staring at him with his one beady eye and unreadable mask. He could see the imaginary gears churning in the man's mind as he looked upon his remaining male student, the other nowhere to be found in that terminus.

"What happened?" He asked again, and this time Sasuke heard it.

"Something… miraculous." He laughed emptily, shaking his head. "Insane."

It had all been a dream. It had to be. He had killed Naruto with that last attack, a move so powerful the boy had simply disintegrated. He was only just waking up now after a lengthy slumber in which restless fever dreams had plagued his mind relentlessly, fueled by the malignant mark bestowed up him by the Snake-Sanin. He rubbed his shoulder with the hand that wasn't clutching the headband.

"The curse mark…" He heard Kakashi gasp behind him, and he froze, knowing already that it was gone.

"Mm."

"When did-how did…?"

"I told you," Sasuke chuckled, struggling to stand up. Kakashi caught him before he tumbled into the raging current. "Something miraculous."

Supporting him under his elbow, Kakashi had no choice but to nod dumbly, still not sure what to make of this disturbed but passive Sasuke, who was a far cry from the boy they knew had gone rogue not 24 hours before.

Then there was the choice of what to do now. Sasuke was obviously in no position to retaliate if he were to capture him now. That was the whole point of the mission, to bring the hotheaded boy back to the village. But then there was also the absence of his blond student. He couldn't just head back and abandon him, could he? That wouldn't feel much like a victorious mission.

"Don't worry about the idiot." Sasuke mumbled as Kakashi placed him in his arms, the half-naked boy curling into the veteran ninja's flak vest. "I'm sure he's fine."

The masked shinobi couldn't help but be skeptical, despite the surety of those mumbled words as their creator drifted off to sleep like a pet sheep.

In truth, he didn't know what to believe anymore. He had come there expecting the worse. Preparing himself to see both of his students locked in tangles of guilt and gore. In a way, this was more unsettling. What would he tell the Hokage? What would he tell all of Naruto's friends when he got back? These questions, which weighed heavily on his mind, passed unobtrusively over the stoically content Sasuke as he rested in unmolested slumber.

Kakashi sighed, resigning himself to the fact that some answers would just have to wait.

"Whatever it was you hoped to gain, whatever it was you were seeking by going along with that snake, I hope you found it, Sasuke." The gray-haired man muttered as he leapt off into the forests of the night.

"Yeah, I think I did…"

…


End file.
